Mystical Marrakech

Marrakech in the winter is a very different place, you'd expect sunshine and the hustle and bustle of the souk!  Temperatures drop, rain falls and the easiness and relaxed mood of wandering around the Medina's rabbit warren streets disappears. I spent most of my time dodging the rain in a flimsy t-shirt and cardigan, but it didn't dampen my of love shopping and discovery.


I became obsessed with light fittings and spent most of the time looking up discovering the most exquisite and eclectic mix of lights. 

My personal favourite, blue glass chandelier

Mosaic glass Light from Dar Bou Ziane Marrakech

Green blown glass light 

Exquisite metal light  

French style glass light

Glass light with coloured glass stones

Street lights

I was very lucky to have an amazing host the designer Adriana Bittencout who spends half the year living in the heart of the Medina in a house designed by the renowned decorator and architect Bill Willis. He designed 2 houses for Yves Saint Laurent and took Jean Paul Getty and his new bride Talitha on their honeymoon to Marrakech for the first time.  His style is very distinctive and one of his signatures is the amazing fireplace he built in many of the homes he worked on.

Bill Willis fireplace

Courtyard

Guest bedroom

It was here in the house I had drinks with the amazing Andre Leon Talley and the fabulous Miss Jay, we were all staying at the incredible La Mamounia hotel. From the balcony of my bedroom the view was magnificent, lush vegetation surrounding the hotel and in the distance the incredible snow capped Atlas mountains, absolute heaven on earth. 

Andre Leon Talley

Miss Jay

One of the lobby's in La Mamounia

Room with a view

Racing through the narrow streets trying not to get soaked in the afternoon downpour I took refuge in the many delightful shops. One of my favourite discoveries was La Maison du Kaftan Morocain where I could have easily spent the whole afternoon rifling through 3 floors of vintage kaftans, I found every style of kaftan imaginable, it was absolute bliss. I was also inspired by a wall of multicoloured drawers at Khartit Mustapha, it could solve my problem of the hundred plus shoe's and their boxes I have in my bedroom. They could now be easily hidden away in the drawers and create a colourful wall feature. A trip to Marrakech is not complete without sampling the delicious dates that are sold and beautifully displayed in the central square of the Medina.

One of the many walls of kaftans at La Maison du Kaftan Morocain

Antique inscribed pot at Dar bou Ziane

Multicoloured drawers at Khartit Mustapha

Berber jewellery 

Date stall

Dinner that night was at Le Comptoir restaurant which serves traditional Morrocan cuisine with a wonderful twist. Mid way through our starters I noticed a group of women walking effortlessley down the central stairway with trays full of lit candles balanced on their heads. They then proceeded to dance and twirl around our tables, definitely an excellent lesson on deportment but not one to be tried at home alone incase you catch the curtains alight. The whole restaurant erupted into music and dancing, following these women were the most amazing group of belly dancers of various shapes and sizes, each one equally as sexy as the last. Our table was swiftly cleared and a belly dancer hopped up and gave us a private belly dance, we were all totally mesmerised as were most of the male group on the table next to us who beckoned her over to dance for them. Even Miss Jay gave her a run for her money and not only with his dancing but in the style stakes too. On his feet were a beautiful pair of embroidered slippers with the Sun, Moon and Stars.  I forgot to ask if he purchased them here, ah well I'll have to add that to my shopping list for next time.

Candle dancers

Belly dancer

 Belly Dancer

Miss Jay sure knows how to move

The Sun, Moon & Stars

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.