Outfit post: ermine

First up is a broderie anglaise dress by Fearne Cotton which I got on Ebay. I'm loving white and forest-green; it downplays the 50s nurse look to an acceptable level.

 

Dress: Fearne Cotton at Very

Cardigan: Zara

It's also the perfect neckline to wear with my sweet little embroidered collar from DesignByJane on Etsy. Jane has the most amazing eye for colour and her embroidery is absolutely meticulous. I'm a huge fan:

Next is this 50s diner-style shirt-dress from good old Dorothy Perkins. I just know this silly gingerbread-man was designed with me in mind.

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Silver lurex cardigan: H&M

Hair bow: Sass Diva
Shoes: Topshop

Me and these origami shoes were meant to be together. They were the absolute dregs of a Topshop sale and I think they were £6. Normally I'm a size 8 shoe, but consistent with all of Topshop's small sizing I need a 9, which was the last pair. Grab. Squeal. Play it cool and head to till. 

Here I'm wearing the gingerbreads with a King Ermine brooch, from the wonderful Calloo and Callay.

When I wear this brooch, I swan around like this lady, threatening to set my Ermine on anyone irritating:

Lady With An Ermine, Da Vinci

Ermines were aristocratic pets. The ermine in this painting is thought to symbolise purity as Leonardo believed they would face death rather than soiling their white coats. Strange. They may be ridiculously, infuriatingly cute, but they are also vicious predators of other cute animals.

Ermine. Source: left and right

Back to dresses now, I got this one on sale at the supremely hateable Cath Kidston. Cath Kidston is just too much of a good thing. You walk into that store and there are so many faded English roses on everything it becomes nauseating. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring out some over-priced heritage toilet paper soon. Despite this, the clothes still appeal to me when I'm feeling especially twee. They are expensive, but I must say this dress is really good quality: lovely soft cotton with a nice cotton lining. I was surprised that my bust consistently fits into their size 16, but now that I know this I'll be lurking around the sale more often. I was actually planning on wearing this dress to the Wyndstock Country House party but that was CANCELLED which I'm still really miffed about (organisers, note my wrath). The good news is I'll be going to the Edinburgh Festival instead.

Dress: Cath Kidston

Cardigan: Zara

Shoes: Timberland

Belt: vintage

I'm still very much a fan of gold leather, and here I am wearing one such bunting necklace which was one of my very first Etsy purchases, from Louloudo.

You can also see my silly whippet brooch that I bought at some craft fair. Whippets are right up there with the most stylish dogs, with poodles.

Victorian artists' studios

My landlord wanted to do major renovation so sadly we had to move. I had spent a lot of time beautifying our old apartment, so I was sad to see it demolished, but I'll be happy to start projects in the new place- watch this space.

I thought I would pay tribute to my old suburb with a few pics of one of the most interesting buildings there: the Talgarth Road/St Paul's Studios. These were the original plans:

Source

And here they are today:

St Paul's Studios

St Paul's Studios on Talgarth Road are a row of eight purpose-built artist's houses designed by Frederick Wheeler in 1891. These late Victorian beauties were "specially designed to suit the requirements of bachelor artists and with accommodation for a housekeeper on the lower floor". They are north-facing so the studios are bathed in diffuse light, the huge barrel-vaulted windows mean the light does not change direction with the time of day, and the slit windows are designed for hauling up extra-large canvases. Aren't they the stuff of dreams?

They go on the market from time to time and are still mainly occupied by rich artists/architects. One sneaky way to look inside the houses you love is to look on estate agent websites:

The studios attracted a number of  interesting artists through the ages, like Victorian illustrator Edward Tennyson Reed. He worked for the weekly satire magazine Punch, which is famous for helping coin the term "cartoon".

 

Images from BibliOdyssey

Superstar Prima Ballerina Margot Fonteyn lived in one of the studios, which sold for £1.1 million in 2003.

Margot Fonteyn. Sources: left and right.

As if the studios' looks weren't desirable enough, imagine living in a place with so much history.

Margot Feynman in Swan Lake. Source

Goodbye Kensington, you will always have a special place in my heart.

x

Sounds

I'm very excited to share some of the sounds that have been filling my ears recently:

1. Birdsong Radio

This giant redwood forest in California is what I imagine when I listen to Birdsong Radio. I've been looking for recordings of birds since visiting Japan in 2007, when I went to a Lolita boutique in Harajuku where they had created an amazing Wonderland of frilly dresses, astroturf and white-rabbit mannequins; filled with the sound of birds.

Since then the search has been fruitless, because if you search for the sounds of nature you usually get awful panpipes overlaid with waterfall sounds. Well, look no further, friends. Birdsong Radio plays only the sounds of birds, and it's free. Blast it through your house in the morning and imagine you're cooking breakfast in a forest. Take an afternoon nap and dream of sleeping in a Hockney painting. Play it in your office and see if anyone notices. So many possibilities.

 As its playing I can't help but fantasise about what each bird looks like, and I swear there's one bird which says "my little pony...my little pony" in the Dawn Chorus track (let me know if you hear it too). Every so often a sultry pre-recorded voice comes on and says something about indulgence and relaxation, which is a hilarious reminder that you're listening to an actual radio station. Doing a bit of research I found that Classic FM used a recording of English birds as a test transmission which became really popular with listeners; you can still listen to the famous 25 minute loop here. These types of high quality recordings are apparently harder and harder to get because of increasing noise pollution.

When I told my housemate that I was listening to a bird radio station, she asked if that was one where birds do things like read the news. Perhaps she's right, I mean, who knows what they're saying?

I know you wanna see just how giant those giant redwoods were, so check out the girth on this thing:

 The rest of my Californian road-trip pics will be coming soon in a dedicated post.

2. Alt-J

Mr Zissou says he heard this band playing in the grocery store, so I guess they're no longer exciting and cool. But just in case you haven't yet heard of them, I'd like to share their song Breezeblocks which I've had on repeat for months. This is what the band had to say about the song:

"‘Breezeblocks’ references Where The Wild Things Are and is about liking someone so much, that you want to hurt them. It’s basically based upon the book. So, it’s translating the narrative of the book to a generic relationship, where you miss them so much, you’re threatening to eat them because you wanted them to stay."

Do you know where the wild things go?

....

Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so I love you so

The video has a different message though. Enjoy: