Everyone has gone bicycle crazy

The Boris bikes have hit London and it seems everyone has taken up an interest in cycling, I'm still very loyal to my MINI Cooper but am tempted to get on my bike, if I had one.

A rack of Boris bikes

The Boris bikes do not have the same appeal as the cool Velib bikes in Paris though. The Velib does not have huge branding by a high street bank emblazoned all over them, they are a cool chic grey and have a functional basket, not as per the Boris bikes with a glorified magazine rack on the front.

Velib's in Paris

Even in Hangzhou their bicycles look much better, they were the first city in China to have rental bikes in 2008. I suppose the branding isn't such an eyesore if you do not understand the language! Ha, ha. But I love the fact they they are a bold red and have baskets!

Hangzhou public bicycles

Even Atelier Mayer the exquisite appointment only vintage boutique and online e-shop www.atelier-mayer.com deliver your purchases on a very chic black Velobris bicycle with custom made wooden basket. I love their style.

Atelier-Mayer Velobris bicycle

I think I'm too old to get a Hello Kitty Cruiser but I'm very tempted. The tyres have been moulded with the Hello Kitty face, so you can leave an imprint of her everywhere you go when it's wet. Such joy.

Hello Kitty Cruiser

Hello Kitty tyre

Then there's the fabulous Jellybean bike www.jellybeanbikes.com.au, where you can customise the colour of your bike. The company is based in Australia but it's worth having your own uniquely coloured bicycle delivered to your door for the extra shipping cost. 

Hmm, which colours to choose......... Blue being my favourite colour this is my first combination.

I love my blue jellybean bike

Red, green and blue Jellybean bike

If I'm going on the pure design and aesthetic of a bike then I would have to purchase this beautiful bamboo bicycle designed by Ross Lovegrove for Biomega. I can see myself taking this bike on all of my travels, it would have fitted in so well to my surroundings in Bali. 

Next stop Jamaica in October, I wonder if I'll be charged excess luggage for this?

China Diaries Pt.2

Our days spent at the factory inspecting prints and patterns turned out to be lots of fun, within one of our printing mills we discovered their wholesale scarf shop. We excitedly set about buying as many scarves as we could fit into our hand luggage.

Daniella's selection

Wall of scarves

After a successful sweep of the scarf shop, were off to the warehouse to hunt through the Issa print archive. It's quite overwhelming seeing a hundreds of fabric rolls charting the whole print history of Issa, it brought back lots of memories of us working on the prints. We pulled out a few gems to re-work and also some of our favourites to make one-off dresses for ourselves.

Rolls of archive Issa prints

Joyce measuring a roll of archive print

I love the night markets in China you can find an array of silly trinkets, jewellery and a very thriving business in fake designer hand bags, I personally do not believe in buying fakes only the real thing does it for me.

Me and Daniella outside the Night Market

I purchased these Nerdy spectacles for just the equivalent of £2.50 in the market and on my return to London fell in love with a pair of leather specs by Cutler and Gross just like my Chinese pair, how luxe to have a pair of leather covered specs.

My Chinese Nerdy Spectacles

Cutler and Gross Leather Spec's

I think we're all obsessed with specs at the moment, Maggie picked up a pair of blinging crystal covered specs, only her and Dame Edna can pull those off.

The rest of the night was a buying frenzy of belts, hats and jewellery. I seriously have to weigh my luggage when I get back to the hotel.

Overweight again!

China diaries Pt.1

I made the bi-annual pilgrimage to China, Hangzhou to be exact.  As Creative Consultant for ISSA London it is important for me to see the samples and prints before our fashion show in London on 21st September, 7.30pm @ Somerset House. Hangzhou is where the label manufactures prints and fabrics for the jersey, chiffon and cotton styles in the collection.

Me inspecting the printed fabric

The screens to print the fabric

Maggie with a pattern cutter

The sample room

It's such a fascinating country especially travelling through mainland China and visiting the smaller cities. Hangzhou is a surprising hub of luxury shops and car dealerships, not the run of the mill car manufacturer's only the luxury high end ones, Maserati, Ferrari and Bentley of which the showroom was next to my hotel the Hyatt Regency. I saw a Bentley parked outside the hotel and was told that the number on the plate was extremely lucky and auspicious it would have cost the owner 1,000,000 yuan (around £100,000).   

Bentley number plate

I had my eye on another vehicle parked outside the hotel a beautiful new Rolls Royce Phantom coupe. I would definitely spend my hard earned yuan on this vehicle and feel extremely lucky without the need of the auspicious number plate. 

Rolls Royce Phantom coupe

A sunny day in Paris

I escaped to sunny Paris for the day to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the Petit Palais, the first ever retrospective featuring 40 years of his work. A magnificent journey which takes you through every memorable piece of couture he designed, I found it overwhelming and wished I had been blessed with a photographic memory. What a delight to be so close (I did touch a few times) to his magical creations. My absolute favourite was the wall of Le Smoking, featuring every possible connotation of Le Smoking designed throughout his 40 year reign at the helm at YSL.

Le Smoking

The curation and set designer were sublime, over 300 mannequins were displayed some seated as if they were the audience at a catwalk show and us the visitors, models.

The YSL audience

The exhibition also revealed a few things, a whole room dedicated to the 1971 summer collection inspired by the 1940's which was a complete disaster in the eyes of the World's press. So fabulous that they have embraced the successes and failures in his illustrious career.  My other discovery was the comic strip written and drawn by Yves Saint Laurent in 1967 called La Vilaine Lulu, a cheeky and malevolent child who comes in many guises featuring some famous icons we would all recognise. 

La Vilaine Lulu

The many faces of Lulu

I wish I had more time to see the exhibition over a few days as there was so much to take in, I left with a feeling of era overload, but happy to have seen Yves Saint Laurent's magnificent work from 1958-2002 all under one roof.

Long Live the King!!!!

The man in question is Monsieur Azzedine Alaia. Words cannot express the creativity this man puts into a silhouette he has been working on and re-producing for 20 years. It leaves me breathless and consumed with uncontrollable desire.


I have been coveting this bag he designed for Louis Vuitton's monogram canvas's 100th birthday since 1996.

Azzedine Alaia LV Centenaire Alma bag

My newest crush and carved in stone on my wish list is an Azzedine Alaia A/W '10 pony hair leopard print dress which costs the same price as a secondhand MINI One. I drive a MINI Cooper and have considered selling it and my soul for this dress. At least I'll have spare change to top up my oyster card as I skip home from Dover Street Market with this in my possession grinning from ear to ear. 

Azzedine Alaia pony skin leopard print dress

Oh Alaia!!

What I wish for in the aesthetic world and where I want to be.

The world of Kittyism's

Ideally I would wish to be back in Bali. Ubud to be precise where I spent 8 magical days for my best friend Andrew Glenn and his partner Jonathon Rutherford Best's Civil Union.

I wish I managed to stuff these beauties in my 28kg weight suitcase which was 6kg overweight before I landed in Bali!

This straw boater from my boy Corto Moltedo is reminiscent of my school days except our boaters were burgundy, yuk!

Corto Moltedo straw boater

I would rather be wafting around The Linda Garland Panchoran Bamboo estate in Ubud where we stayed, with this fabulous topper and my Issa Kimono.

Me in my favourite Issa Kimono 

View from my bed

The pool

Corto Moltedo makes the most exquisite bags which manage to be chic, quirky, unique and deadly cool all at the same time. These little babies would have been a perfect accent to the plush greens surrounding us.

Corto Moltedo mini Cassette clutches

My days were spend practising yoga with Dylan Bernstein on the outdoor pavilion surrounded by bamboo trees and the sound of the meandering river which cuts through the estate.  Dylan was an incredible gift, having not practised yoga for a year Dylan had me back into the primary series and doing headstands in no time at all.  A funny coincidence was that he had taught my friend Chomwan (who stayed with me on the estate) in Thailand 2 years ago! Dylan teaches across Asia in the the summer so if your in that part of the world check him out www.stillnessinaction.com.

Eating was a big part of my stay and to quote from Chomwan, many days were spent in a food coma. So mouthwateringly delicious I relished lunch and dinner and wished to eat this everyday.

Yum

We were treated to a personal tour of the Palace by the Prince Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa of the Ubud Royal family, a wonderfully engaging and eloquent man who explained the religious beliefs of the Balinese people and his role as the head of the Ubud community. The palace was a network of small buildings each an open air pavilion with a room at the back, the epitome of outdoor indoor living.

Prince Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa

The oldest structure in the Palace compound

Balinese gongs

Me on the Palace steps

We had a full day, after our wonderful morning at the Palace we were guided through the streets of Ubud by Susi Johnston to her fabulous gallery and shop Macan Tidur where we were given a lecture on the origins of Balinese art and textiles and the influences it had from India, China and the West. I wish I had with me these incredibly clever wedge trainers from Isabel Marant on my feet for our tour, they are the hottest trainers this season and so comfortable and stylish.

Isabel Marant trainers

Balinese fabrics

Antique Monkey carving

Next stop was a wonderful journey through the rice paddies and small roads of Ubud littered with temples and beautiful stone carvings to the John Hardy Jewellery Workshop near Ubud in Badung. We were led by the Creative Director Guy Bedarida to the largest bamboo structure in the world and what a magnificent piece of architecture it was.

  The largest bamboo structure in the world

 

Bamboo columns

If I ever have a party in Bali this is where it's going to be, the setting is incredible and the acoustics in this structure are sublime. This shows the companies commitment to conservation, sustainable living and using natural resources. The workshop and buildings are surrounded by working fields which produce rice, vegetables and house livestock which provides the staff of over five hundred people and us with a healthy organic lunch from these fields. John Hardy's commitment to all things Balinese is reflected through his jewellery which uses traditional Balinese jewellery making techniques all done by hand.  

Exterior of the bamboo structure

John Hardy jewellery shop

Back to the reason why we are all in Bali everyone from the 27 different countries around the world, Jonathon actually recited everyone of them but I think the Vodka shots had taken effect on me by then for me to remember. This Louis Vuitton bag would have been the perfect accompaniment to my Giambattista Valli dress and technology overload, Lumix camera, Nokia mobile phone, Blackberry and Flip Mino HD camcorder.

Me and Andrew's Mother Ruby aka "Tinkers"

Pochette Nightbird bag by Louis Vuitton 

The spot where the ceremony took place apparently had 9 channels of energy going through it, which I'm sure radiated throughout the whole estate. 

The setting for the civil union

9 channels of energy

Flower girls

 "Tinkers" in an Issa Goddess dress

The festivities carried long into the next morning to the sounds of DJ Sandra Nerdrum Gutman. The whole wedding party with sore heads and feet congregated again the next day at the Villa Puri Tupai for a farewell lunch with the 2 grooms. There I spotted Jsen Wintle's popping Lomography Fisheye camera which is already etched on my wish list.

Balinese style dining

Jsen Wintle's Lomography Fisheye camera

Jonathon had a large group of friends and family from New Zealand, one of which was Felicity Morgan Rhind who sang a rousing Waiata at the ceremony and wore a different Hei Tiki necklace everyday I loved the red resin one she wore to the farewell lunch.

Felicity Morgan-Rhind's Hei Tiki necklace

Chomwan won the best hat of the day in this elegant Corto Moltedo wide brimmed sun hat, I wonder if he still makes this?

Chomwan's sun hat by Corto Moltedo

Olivia in Marc Jacobs

Our final day in Ubud and the famous market garnered a few gems, especially from this fantastic woman who was bright, so sharp and selling from her stall at the grand old age of 90! Can you believe it?

Me and the 90 year old market seller

We travelled down to the beach in Seminyak and stopped by a few boutiques on the way,  Joy had the prettiest jewellery especially these Buddhist beaded necklaces. I wished I had room in my suitcase for this lamp by Press Ban Cafe which was decorated with plastic childrens toys, mugs etc... 

 Buddhist beaded necklace by Joy

Lamp by Press Ban Cafe
Last stop on our journey was to fill the car with petrol and what a chic way to refill on the roadside with Absolut Vodka bottles filled with petrol.

Roadside petrol stand

Bye, bye Bali you'll live on in my heart, head and psyche for a long time.