Sunday 28 November 2010

New Gavroche

I was in London a couple of times this week and I found Ex Libris en Camouflage in the shades of grey as a gavroche - I've been waiting for this to come back into stock in Harrods for a while! Here she is:-

Here worn alone.
Worn cowboy style - secured at the back with small scarf ring.

I have experimented wearing this gavroche with it's sister gavroche in the pink shades - taking a lead from some fellow tpf-ers (you know who you are - thank you!).
50/50 - The Butterfly "Knot" - secured at the back with scarf ring
and then using another ring to make the butterfly at the front.








The Friendship Knot.

I really like the Friendship Knot done like this, I think this is my favourite look!  I think I may need to stock up on some other gavroches of the same pattern - Printemps Ete 69/Automne Hiver 70 in particular!

Then with a regular twist.
And a double.
By twisting an extra time this made for a "criss cross"
 of the colours.


 


Friday 26 November 2010

Christmas Windows in Paris!

The shops in Paris were gearing up for Christmas on my recent day trip.  Printemps' windows were still under wraps but Galeries Lafayette were on display, and the facade of the shop itself looked pretty magnificent with its lights.

The window displays had a theatre show theme:
The Rockettes - after those at New York's Radio City Hall - all the puppets moved to music and they were SO cute!  The Christmas girl puppets were all doing a high kick routine!  There was a little ramp in front of every window so little children could get a good view of everything - very thoughtful.

The next window along was West Side Story and then came Mamma Mia seen below - the dolls moved up and down inside the top of the cake LOL!

I didn't catch which musical/show this was from but the flying teddies were just TDF!  They moved up and down - maybe it was a take on Mary Poppins? 














The windows of the 2 neighbouring department stores are always a delight and a magical place for children to visit, including me!

Sunday 21 November 2010

Day Trip to Paris

Originally I had planned a day trip to Paris to try to get a La Vie Du Grand Nord in the elusive colourway #10.  However, I had struck lucky in Berlin a few weeks before.  So now what to do in Paris? After various delays in travel along the way I eventually got there.  It RAINED!













Here you can see the magnificent Avenue de L'Opera with the beautiful Opera Garnier at the end - this is where the ballet is most often performed and where legend has it that The Phantom of The Opera lives/lived!

Some gorgeous classic style french fashions in the window of a boutique on the Ave de l'Opera.











As it was raining I decided against queueing to see the Monet exhibition so I walked the length of Fauborg St Honore









and did lots of window shopping:-
I wonder how many Euros this beauty cost??!!
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The matching earrings (top).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It was still raining.... 
Fbg St Honore


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A fabulous macaroon display with chocolate shoe!




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Some lovely pink things!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And a beautiful cake shop - of course!
The clothes in the shop windows were all gorgeous and these looked nice and warm and cosy!
My pictures of the Hermes FSH window were not good enough to show here (and there was only one window dressed anyway) but the horseman had suffered in the wind and rain - he lost one of his scarves!!  It was hanging beneath him poor chap!  I think he had the turqouise version of Posisson du Corail flying.
I popped around the corner to Rue Royale to look at Laduree's windows and they have a new designer box by Galliano so I bought my only purchase of the day - a little box filled with my favourite praline macaroons, although they probably have a special Galliano macaroon knowing Laduree!
Looking towards the Madeleine from Laduree.
The Madeleine/Rue Royale














I then went up to Avenue George V









but there was nothing at Hermes there to tempt me either.  The Louis Vuitton windows were good especially in the evening light!













I then had to head back towards the Opera to go back home - the Champs Elysees look fabulous at night:-













The Opera Garnier looked amazing lit up in the dark:-













And there were some lovely clothes that caught my eye in a shop just by the Opera..the shops always dress their windows beautifully in Paris.


I could not leave Paris without grabbing a fresh croissant to have for breakfast the next day and to remind me of my day in Paris!
I nearly missed my flight home thanks to the horrendous traffic in Paris and instead of having a leisurely hour to mooch around the lovely shops at the airport I had 5 minutes!!!  What a whirlwind of a day!


Thursday 18 November 2010

Busy busy!

Well my carbon footprint in the last couple of weeks has been rather large as I have been to London, as you know, Paris and Berlin all in the space of 10 days, as well as going to work in between.  I hope to get a blog together soon when I have sorted and copyrighted the photos etc!  It does take time to prepare everything - I am sure fellow bloggers will know what I mean! 
The Rainbow Tree is now completely bare and winter is due to hit big time next week so here is a picture of some of the last few autumn leaves.
Hope everyone is OK anyway and I'll be back soon :-)

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Some Happy News!

Hurrah at long last Prince William and Kate have announced their engagement - I hope they will be very happy together!
Photo: www.hellomagazine.com


And the Prince gave his Princess-to-be his late mother's beautiful diamond and sapphire engagement ring:
Photo: www.hellomagazine.com



So now we have a Royal Wedding to look forward to - so nice to have some happy news for a change:-)

Sunday 7 November 2010

Day Trip to London

I went to London yesterday to see the ballet "Sylvia" - and not least because Sergei Polunin was dancing!  More of that below.  I had some time free so I went to Bond Street to look at the shop windows and to stock up on some yummy Laduree praline macaroons - they are my favourite flavour.

I was rather taken with their box with a lady on the front - note she has a ship on her hat - which reminded me of one of the ladies at the Venice Carnival who had a similar hat!




Then I was in Trafalgar Square where there is the most fabulous ship in a bottle!  I have never seen one quite this big before LOL! (Is a ship theme developing here?)



After that I popped into the National Gallery to find out details of their Canaletto exhibition - I will have to go back and see it before it closes - I really like Canaletto and of course Venice!!


Then my time ran out and after a quick early lunch it was off to the Royal Opera House for the "main event" the ballet "Sylvia" by the late Federick Ashton.  I really enjoyed the ballet and the costumes were just gorgeous, especially Sylvia's sumptuous pink tutu for Act III, seen in my photo.  Here is the full cast at the curtain call - Sylvia was danced by Lauren Cuthbertson and Aminta by Sergei Polunin.

When I got home some neighbours were celebrating Guy Fawkes night (a day late) and I was able to enjoy their fireworks too - I love seeing fireworks don't you?

This rocket was lovely but my photo of it came out looking rather more like a jelly fish LOL!!

These are more "normal" but so pretty and a lovely end to my busy day! 

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Some Hermès Windows

I was in Berlin recently as you know and there were some nice things in the windows at the Friedrichstrasse Hermès boutique in Berlin - they took some familiar paintings and put the Hermès touch on them!  Unfortunately the reflections in the windows have affected the photos but not so much that you cannot see!

Quand Soudain 70cm

Quand Soudain again with another scarf I
can't ID - and Girl with a Pearl Earring;-)

Some beautiful leather goods, an enamel bangle,
a gorgeous plisse and a fabulous Bolide handbag.

Mona Lisa with a Hermès watch LOL!

I think this is the Brazil Gavroche - he looks very Johnny Depp!





Girl with an Ex Libris Tassled Shawl ;-)

After the trek around the shops who could resist a reviving Hot Chocolate and slice of Luisentorte at the Opern Palais??!!