HAPPY HALLOWEEN

THE LOOK PRESENTS SHOP AT MAISON B

2 NOVEMBER 2006
6.30 for 7.00 start
Max and Pippa will be talking about their history from the days they met at Fred's - Max was a barman and Pippa was a singer, their first shop together, the start of Shop on Brewer Street, the things they are into, who they are and everything else that has led up to them being where they are today with Shop At Maison Bertaux. Author of The Look Paul Gorman will be presenting the evening at the London College of Fashion.

If you are interested in coming, email madame@shopatmaisonb.com to get your name on the list. It is free! There is booze! And best of all, there will be a performance by All About Eve Babitz at the end. [Except without James cause he is off schmoozing with Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake at the MTV Europe awards in Copenhagen. But I promise - All About Eve Babitz are gonna be better!!]

xx Emma

How kind...

Liza and Vikram sent some great pictures from our gig the other night which i thought I should share....since they're so artful, and i love the way in Liza's it looks like i'm dancing with Humphrey Bogart - if you squint!!! We had a great night, with a noisy wonderful Mark Eley and friends table, a friends and family table with Max and the Mahon's, and the standing room only crew which Emma, Paul and Alex were representing, socialising between all the tables, propping up the bar and welcoming newcomers...I love it when we play there because even though there's quite a lot of people we don't know in the audience, it feels like our place and they're visiting!

Come to the next one! You'll be amazed, not least by the special effects......!!! pippa xx

Where to start....??

So much to tell from the last few days...um, let's start with Sarah, that's Sarah Lee, ace guardian photographer, first shopgirl now friend....came down the other day with customary Maison Bertaux eclair, which, i might add she always shares with me!! I know eclairs and i get the feeling Sarah's seen a few too, and we're both agreed that this is London's No 1 most wonderful eclair - they have to be tasted to be believed! So first of all this is my portrait of Sarah with eclair, but i love how it looks like she's eating 2 at once! Must be a perspective thing.....

But then we decided to do an impromptu shoot in the dressing room , we had such a giggle, it's such a small space and Sarah was trying to squeeze herself in but not be seen in the mirror, and i was very pleased i touched up the red lipstick when i saw how close-up the shots were! I absolutely LOVE the pictures, love how the dressing room looks kinda spooky and i look deranged....but in a good way!


There's another couple on my flickr....don't want to put too many photos of myself on here...you might think me self-obsessed.........moi?
I was telling you about the Obey delivery we were anticipating with great excitement and it finally arrived on Friday....in fact the Obey boys were wonderful well above and beyond the call of duty as following our All About Eve Babitz gig on Thursday night i still had the drums stashed in Maison B, although you can hardly "stash" a drumkit....anyway simon staggered down the stairs with our delivery and i ended up hijacking their deliveries for a detour to Tin Pan Alley on Denmark St to deliver the drums back to Steve. Thank you thankyou thankyou!!!!! Emma and I started pulling tshirts and hoodies out of the box on my return, and we decided to shoot a couple so you can see how AMAZING they are - and Saturday they already started flying out of the shop, so get 'em while they're HOT!!!!!


Saturday was also a great day, we have a new Saturday girl, Lisa, who's a florist by trade but with the flair of a would-be fashion-designer, we had fun and i showed her the ropes, we thought the day went pretty well, so here's Lisa at the end of her very first day as Shopgirl:

And I also had a visit from Michael H.Shamberg, an old friend of mine...we used to chat about music and stuff in the old days of Shop and i hadn't seen him for years til he popped by the other day, can't wait to learn more about his "Turtle" art project, and fill in the gaps since we saw each other, he bought his ladyfriend a pink tweed Obey cap and left me with some reading matter on "Turtle" to peruse....

Then finally Sacha from Hyde SK popped by with some FIERCE new bags, i'll take some pics of them individually, but this is Sacha as she plonked them all down in front of me, sporting her Eley Kishimoto leopard print mac she bought at Maison B last week, she was enjoying my ipod selection as it seemed to sense her presence and played loads of Eagles of Death Metal...I hadn't seen her since i walked into the showroom in Paris a couple of weeks ago and she was boinging across the floor on a pogostick!!!!

Phew! Pippa xxxxx

What is Pippa up to?!

I left work to night with Pippa waving goodbye and telling me to "check out for my next blog!" I assumed that she meant TONIGHT!! I'm dying to see her pictures we took this afternoon.

Last night we were down at Trisha's to see All About Eve Babitz play and it was excellent cause Liza and Cheryl are back in town and I didn't get to say hello to them till then.

I look a little bit too excited.

Also it was lovely to see Sarah come down. She has been a regular customer at The World According To... for a long time and she has a sense of humour that we well appreciate! Last time she was in The World According To... with me, I was crying laughing with her about a knitted grey tube dress with sleeves longer than the hem and a pair of jeans she had tried on once in from the sale bin. That reminds me - Pippa was not wearing that dress today!!

Sarah told me a wonderful story from when she was three years old. She decided to give herself plastic surgury by shoving the nose off her rubber Kermit the frog up her own nose thinking that it would transform her own face into the wonderful curvy pac-manesque profile of Kermit the frog. Sarah ended up in hospital having Kermits nose removed from her own.

And last for tonight, here are some pics Paul took in Ireland of Paperrad while they worked on their installation one night.





COOL! If you didn't check it already, watch the Paperrad video that they made with Paul spoofing Pippa's fashion video!

xx Emma

I <3 SOHO

Today was super busy at work. It started off a really sucky day cause Paul had crashed my computer in the night and didn't bother to fix it so I spent my first waking hour restarting everything :( then realising he had my laptop case at his studio so I hate to take my laptop to work wrapped in a towel in my bag :(( - we've ALL been there! technology huh?!

By the end of my day, I was all cheery again. After work I went over to Maison B and had a couple of bottles of Blush Rose with Pippa, Nathaniel and Paul. I got a sneak preview of the next season Eley Kishimoto collection cause Fiona had set it up in Maison B for a buying appointment. I tell you already I'm going SICK for some of the prints! They are the BEST YET!! Anyway P, N and P had a good gossip and a laugh about nothing and everything.

Paul and I went and had dinner at Aldo's. One of the guys in there has the coolest slogan tshirt "Trattoria da Aldo" printed black on white in the most gangsta rubbish clip art font. I spend the whole evening in there eating and wonder how I could get his tshirt.

Then on the way home I was thinking about the best things about Soho. And I figured you know you are in Soho when:
1] You are out for dinner and you need to pee and the toilets are down two flights of stairs in a basement where your head hits the ceiling and the walls have rising damp three quarters of the way up.
2] You spy a tranny handing out flyers to G-A-Y on Old Compton Street wearing a gold lurex dress hobbling either from her platforms, or her knackers as big as a horse strapped between her legs.
3] Three nutty New Zealanders / Melbournians make you a flat white and a vegemite bagel for breakfast talking about John Farnham and Dave Dobbin at Flat White on Berwick St.
4] Some tramp tries to sell you his "last copy" of what looks to be the Big Issue but is actually ES magazine or something he found in the trash for 2 quid while you drink outside the Coach and Horses with your mates.
5] To get the tube home after work, you have to crowd surf to actually get in the station [Leicester Square in a Friday] or step over a gaggle of pierced teenagers dressed in neon pink and black queuing to see Trivium or Sugarbabes [or both] at the Astoria [Tottenham Court Road]
6] A cute Japanese couple stop you and ask for directions to Bond/Slam City Skates/The World According To... cause the want to buy Silas and Maria
7] You see Pete Burns in Ballans whooping it up
8] Quite a smartly dressed man scurries out of a nearby alley way with his plain plastic shop bag [opaque!] too flushed to make eye contact with you and he smells a bit boozy. It is only 11am.
9] It is the weekend and you have found THE PIECE OF CAKE covered with THE MOST PERFECT STRAWBERRIES and THE BEST CUP OF TEA FOR TWO on Greek Street but you can could actually kid yourself you are in Paris from Maison Bertaux, then pop downstairs and buy and A.P.C. smock.
10] There are no chicken bones on the street. The only "Chicken Cottage" is the kind that goes on in the men's toilet on Broadwick Street.

I <3>

OBEY - PEACE!!!

Shepard Fairey from Obey has been in London recently and he did this piece in Soho next to the Windmill Club which is so great, I always associate Obey sightings with New York but i love having one of his pieces just round the corner here now. It's wierd because it must've been about 1991 when someone first gave me an Andre the Giant sticker, i was hanging around a studio on Denmark St with Rokeby, i think just smoking weed which shows you it must've been ages ago cos i hate the stuff now, and another guy i met who was american had this little pile of stickers and he gave me some to spread the word....it was just this really compelling image in black and white, quite crudely done, but i thought it was great, and becuase i used to spend alot of time in New York then, i started seeing his artwork every time i went, and always had my picture taken next to it and looked out for his art pieces which got ever huger as the time went on.....I'll try to dig out some of the pictures to post up here. Anyway, when Simon from Obey offered us to sell the t-shirts i was super-thrilled and this is just a little history lesson way of telling you that on Friday we'll be getting some new Obey t's for Shop at Maison Bertaux, i'm trying to get some of the men's too but they're a bit scarce we might have to wait til early next year...sorry boys, but anyway i'll let you know on friday what we've got - CAN'T WAIT!!!! pippa xxxxx

PAPERRAD!!

Wow - I've slacked off the posting this week. Katrina and I have spent a bit of time meeting up before she goes back to Australia this weekend - vegemite on toasted bagels and coffee for breakfast at Flat White for starters! YUM! But the rest of the time just work work work.
HERE IS THE HOT NEWS:
Last weekend when I was swanning around Liege with Mash Gordon, Big Pabs was over in Ireland visiting his friends Jacob Ciocci, Ben Jones and Jessica Ciocci, the three artists who make up American collective Paperrad. They guys were over form America installing an exhibition there. Paperrad have been making neon screen prints, spazzed out zines, performing as a variety of different bands [Dr Doo, Extreme Animals], their AWESOME website and now they have recently published a book B.J. and The Dogs and Ben works a lot making videos for people like Beck [I don't rate Beck much, but the video is super cool] and The Gossip. IMHO these dudes have been rocking their neon styles for years and have really influenced a lot of people who are into "neu-rave", unicorns and mystical webdesign. So while Paul had the DV camera out, Paperrad saw Pippa's fashion files [post last week] and were inspired to pimp their own steelo just for us!! COOL!!



Ben tries to convince us he is into neu-rave and DFA... somehow I don't believe him. Jessica looks amazing! And Jacob only wears shoes indoors.

xx Emma

Boy George that was good!

Well last night Max and I got invited to see Boy George live at the Pigalle club by Paul Gorman and his girlfriend Caz and it was sooo great!!!

And to get me out of the house last night it had to be good because I was missing CSI New York starring some of the Suicide Girls AND The Madness of Boy George, but i figured i'd prefer to see the real thing...good move getting everyone out on the night it aired!! He looked and sounded amazing, he's got a great band and there's something about seeing him in such intimate surroundings which felt bizarre, when you remember how stupendously famous he was....

Paul's just walked into the shop and he wants to used my computer, so i'll tell more later, but this is a quickie of Emma and Katrina the other night as we had a farewell glass of blush with Katrina...........booooo hooooo!!!

Butter Wouldn't Melt In Her Mouth...

Here are a couple of picture of the gorgeous Katrina Tran who has been our mainstay Saturday girl for 2 years now in our other shop The World According To... The other night we had some apres work drinks [more Blush! More glasses!] at Shop At Maison Bertaux to just hang with Katrina cause there just isn't much time before she goes back to Melbourne. Anyway - butter wouldn't melt in Katrina's mouth but it seems a lot of other things would!



xx Emma

New York City girls..

Just read Emma's post, she's always so PROMPT at getting her news on the blog, however i was looking after my kids yesterday and then went to see Dita Von Tease at Koko last night so i kind of have an excuse. Tanya from Maison Bertaux just brought me down a cafe au lait so i can settle down to this....

My gorgeous friend Annabel came to visit on Friday from New York, she was in London for Frieze art fair, she always comes over for that so i was anticipating her call, i really wanted her to see the new shop so she came down for tea and eclairs and tried her way through the eley kishimoto rails. She'd just been to the swingin' London show at the V & A so her head was full of empire lines and print, and she kept pulling dresses out going "This is sooo swingiin london!!" Michelle treated us to cakes as she could hear us squealing downstairs, a "Friday Treat"! So the velocity of us catching up with news got ever louder as the sugar kicked in!!

Her friend Lisa came by, she had a stand at Frieze and was furious because Jude Law had just bought the painting she wanted...so she felt much better after some tea and a bit of retail therapy...here they are with their cake boxes. We all had such a good gossip about all kinds of people none of which is printable!!!!!! Mark Powell dropped by too, and made the girls laugh, they were pretending to be typical american tourists saying everything was "darling!" and Mark was giving good cockney!!!

Friday night Max and i did the warm-up at Fun City at Hoxton Bar and Grill which was really fun. Nathaniel and the Lovely Jonjo were running the night and Trash Fashion played - they were great, kind of Chilli Peppers mixed with the Automatic even though i don't like the Automatic, the backing vocals had that kind of screaming thing. They're sexxy boys, their look is clockwork orange meets a roller disco, and they're really entertaining, riding on each other's shoulders playing guitar solos or playing from behind the bar at one point, they seemed to have all their instruments on radio mics - or the whole thing was on backing tape!

Max and i did 3 on 3 off and i managed to make the system cut out during Lapdance by N.E.R.D.


Then when Nathaniel came on he was playing the most mental acid mixed with jungle and rave, there were loads of kids with whistles going mental - sadly no leather chaps on this occasion, he's been known to feature them teamed only with underwear....probably just as well. Then he blew the soundsystem too and for about 5 minutes there was just the sound of angry whistles!

I should say something about Dita von Tease.....unfortunately there are no photos because they squeezed so many people in to the venue that all you'd see is the back of loads of heads....however the finery on top of said heads has to be commented on - i've never seen so many pillbox hats, netting and sheer hattery in one place! She looked like a milky white goddess in her birdcage, and every part of her costume glittered beyond belief, she danced on point ballet shoes and every movement was perfectly considered - divine! - then a shower turned on in the birdcage and she writhed underneath in pasties and tiny sequinned knickers with bare feet. She's the mistress of her craft, no detail is left to chance....but we left early because they'd crowbarred too many people in and we'd hoped for a revue but they just played tired bump and grind and jive bunny compilations and made us wait aaaaaages for a glimpse of the lady. The Puppini Sisters gave a doo wop rendition of Wuthering Heights which went down rather well, but i think it would've been great if they'd had bad comedians and maybe a few lesser stripteasers like a proper burlesque revue. I think they just wanted money money money, but i bet those props weren't cheap to ship from Hollywood to Camden!

SCHWEINER ROCK!

Well now it is my turn to complain about being tired. But I have been in Liege, Brussels DJing at a party and dancing til 6.30 am, then rushing back on the train, to Brussels and nearly missing the Eurostar - which wouldn't have been so horrible - I'll tell you about all the incredible restaurants in Brussels one day that I have been to. But first I will tell you about my favourite thing in Belgium:

I feel like Alice in Wonderland with everything bigger and smaller and all the beers said "DRINK ME".

The party was by L'armée des bonbons the brain child of DJ Motorcross. Every one who performs at these events makes a bit nutso weirdo noisy electronic music - some like circus music, some love ballads, some like gabba and others, like my new favourite - Dresden band Mash Gordon who make punk with a table FULL of electronic stuff and a guitar. Which is rich coming from me who can be quoted as saying "I hate all music with guitars." Maybe it is the pig masks the guys wear on stage that helps.

Discobernd - Hog On!!

Me - all sweaty in a Mash Gordon sandwich with Discobernd on the right [cute] and Lu Weed on my left [SUPER CUTE]

It is really great to get away and do my [not so] secret music career stuff. It was also great the time Pippa came with me and was singing on a disused warship wearing rubber knickers in Hamburg come to think of it! But I am looking forward to now rolling into bed and finding out what the latest gossip from the shop is tomorrow

xx Emma

Encore....

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi mais je suis fatigue.....I ALWAYS seem to begin a blog with how tired i am! "You've always been tired, girl..." i can hear the dulcit tones of Miss Murphy now!

Anyway Paris was tres fantastique - i know where the accents go honestly but how do you do that on a computer? (answers please to shop at maison b) - we spent time with Jean Touitou from APC, more about that soon.... I think my favourite story was the party he held with Maripol for Madonna in Fiorucci!!! anyone who knows me and Max will understand we were GAGGING!!

Here's Max and Jean Touitou, a couple of swells.
We also went to our buying appointments at APC and sonia rykiel. I fell in love with this dress and crazy dolly shoes - now i have to wait 6 months til we get them in! I hate that!!


Wierd coincidence; I was seated on the Eurostar next to a friend of mine, Antionette...she's a lovely girl who's been coming down to The World According To... and Shop before that for about 7 years or so, young girl to gorgeous lady, and i've always enjoyed chatting to her, but we got the chance to spend several hours together, even a couple of glasses of rose and got to know each other better, she was in Paris for much less frivolous reasons than me.....despite the circumstances it was great seeing her.

Then it was glamour all the way at Sonia Rykiel, where there's a huge Warhol portrait of her at the end of the entrace hall, past a whole corridor's length of scent bottles all lit by lilic light - they must be filled with coloured water though, even still the temptation to pop one of those gorgeous bottles in the pocket is overwhelming!!!!


We hung out with the Eley Kishimoto gang, they'd been partying like crazy all week and we had some fine french sancerre with them and Richard from the George even shared his japanese hangover meal with me - how kind!
Lots of exciting things happening, Emma's told you about Bodymap...I'm djing with max at the Hoxton Bar and Grill on friday night with Pinky Brown and the Lovely Jonjo, it's called Fun City like the Soft Cell song...Trash Fashion are playing http://www.myspace.com/112274396. I'm loving it down at the cake shop and we've got lots of plans for the next few months which will unfold.............soooooon!!

The Good Ol' Dayz!

So as I said, this afternoon I had to spend in the office filling in VAT forms with Nikesh. *YAWN* but CHECK OUT WHAT I FOUND UNDER A PILE OF PAPERS!!!:

Here is Max and Pippa back in 2001 in Somerset visiting the Babycham fawn when we produced a range of licensed underwear and sneakers.

How the hell Pippa climbed to the top of this giant fawn in those moon boots with a Babycham in her hand? I bet she didn't spill a drop! If I remember correctly, that is an old Silas sweater.

And here is a cheeky and giggly Pippa and Max saying cheers to their new deal with Babycham. Check out all those CUTE CUTE CUTE fawns all over the table!!

xx Emma

Agent Nick Stokes

Sorry everybody, Shop At Maison Bertaux is only open between 12.30PM and 4:00PM as Pippa and Max are still away in Paris and I have to meet with our accountant Nickesh this afternoon. We are gonna be open as usual Tuesday though. I might have said previously, working at a boutique isn't always glamour!!

I will say though working Soho there is always some excitement. It really is a fabulous place. When I first came to London in 1995, I was instantly addicted to the place with all the seedy sex shops, cheap book shops and funny little cafe's. My first job was at Joseph in Harvey Nichols and with my friend Claudine, we would meet up with her friends after work for a drink at The Coach and Horses at 29 Greek Street. This is where I met people like Fraser Moss and his brother Dan - who were then doing a label called Professor Head that turned into YMC, Barnsley, the infamous Smiler... all amazing creative Soho people. In the summer months, the pavement of Romilly Street was packed with people - then we'd be off to Smashing which was in a basement on Regent Street. The other bar I went to a lot was Riki Tiks on Bateman Street. Then I went back to Tasmania for 8 months to save some money in 1997. When I returned, Soho wasn't the "in place" any more. Everyone had started to go out over in Hoxton - The Bricklayers Arms was the new pub to go to, soon followed by The Dragon Bar on Leonard Street. I have to admit, I was a little bit heart broken. I mean, I would rather not have to step over fried chicken bones on the pavement on my way to the pub in the East End. :) I can't complain though, I have spent enough time over on Old Street to fill a complete blog of it's own! And Pippa and Max DJ quite often at The George and Dragon which is a great pub to go to.

But back in Soho today - on the way to the bank Meard Street was cordoned off with police tape and there were people in white suits scurrying around. Of course my thoughts turned immediately to CSI - the Las Vegas one. Pippa and I both have "a thing" for Nick Stokes played by George Eade. He was the FBI agent who got buried alive in the Quentin Tarantino episode. We were both shocked to see him in a dandruff shampoo commercial recently! [Weren't you!!??] I just did a google search to try and find a picture of Stokes but instead I found this = mrs-nick-stokes.com What a nutter!

xx Emma

BODYMAP

Woohoo! Another Shop At Maison B exclusive! This time we have the new limited edition Bodymap hand knits from Stevie Stewart coming in mid November-ish. Pippa and Stevie have known each other for a long time so I will leave all the gossip and history of Bodymap to Pippa to write about.

Seriously, there will be a waiting list for these hand knits. If you want one email us = madame AT shopatmaisonb DOT com [sorry for not putting a live email link but we don't the spam] and Pippa will get back to you. i-D will be shooting the "Tit Jumper" on Monday. We are super excited cause we love i-D. When I was still at college back in Tasmania I would stalk my local newsagent to get the latest copy [there were only ever a few delivered a month] to the whole state. And even then the issues were 6 MONTHS behind!! Dear lord... I still have every copy back in my mothers house in Hobart and she keeps threatning to sell them on eBay.

So - Pippa and I did the "Tit Jumper" movie earlier in the evening. I have to admit that we were drinking rather large glasses of Blush Pinot Grigio [sp?] from a local establishment [but I can't say which one cause we didn't take the glasses back yet] and we went from silly to stupid quite quickly!!


Here is Pippa modelling her number one favourite dress of the day - an Eley Kishimoto silk tea dress. It is GORGEOUS and a lot of girls have had their eye on this one, and a black one that is quite similar. This dress will also look great in winter with an old Shopgirl long sleeve thermal or something underneath [if you are one of the girls who still have these kicking around - i know I have a few!!]

Oh I would also like to add a disclaimer: I do have a life, it is just that it revolves around CSI [all three series], Law and Order, Criminal Minds and the JEWEL in the crown The Sheild. When these are not on T.V. I am happy to make any kind of mischeif in a Soho basement. :)

And while I have been messing about with our YouTube account, here is another movie I uploaded from Trisha's the other night of Pippa's band All About Eve Babitz performing "Sunset Strip".


Finally - Max and Pippa are away in Paris and get back very late on Monday evening. Let's wait and see what pictures Pippa brings back with her for her Flickr pages!! I await with baited breath till Tuesday!

xx Emma

what a week!!

Wondering why i'm feeling so tiiiiired today but the last couple of days went so fast with not much sleep and lots of excitement so, one minute i was chomping hula hoops feeling a bit spare
down at Maison Bertaux, then Kumi and Miyuki turned up from Japanese Elle to shoot the new shop...and Miyuki brought her little boy down who slept like a ragdoll all through our last shoot at The World According To... and this time was like a little dervish sliding across our lovely shiny floor squealing and being really hilarious!!


Then had to organise with Emma a mini-shoot with Alex, one of my best friends for a newspaper piece on our favourite shopgirls, and she stepped up to the challenge in an ensemble almost entirely bought at Maison B and TWAT, what a trooper! Then Rebecca came down too so they had some light refreshment upstairs at Maison Bertaux - it's so great having a cafe upstairs!!!

That night my band All About Eve Babitz played at our favourite drinking den Trisha's on Greek Street. I think it went really well, Emma's already been a complete star and put some footage up here. This is her and her husband Paul, they filmed the show and Katrina pouting for Australia!

So many good friends showed up, it was the most shitty rainy day, wanted to thank everyone for braving the rain, especially Glen Matlock and Howie who i don't know very well yet but made my night by showing up......
pippa xxxx

I did it again...

Folks yes it is true - idiot here did it again! Superduck [Nick Abrahams] came down with a friend of his that he has been having afternoon tea with in Maison Bertaux and being a bit tired and over excited cause Superduck was here [he always makes me laugh] I was being quite ridiculous making lewd jokes - SuperD was saying "Your jewellery case is nice" and I said "Yes! It is Pippa's" following it with "Yes - Pippa has a nice case too" [at least I found it funny] and SuperD made some remark about Pippa's shoe collection [men from all over the world have ogled them, and I'm sure women have too but maybe not with the same wishes] Anyway - so you get the vibe of the afternoon!! Then after the two gentlemen made their purchase [Sonia by Sonia Rykiel patent bow brooch] and left I realised who the other guy might be... I did a Google image search but still wasn't sure so I had to send Superduck a text message. Yes I had just asked Brit artist Jeremy Deller "to be my finger" while I was tying the ribbon on the box. I'd be embarressed if after 34 years of being an idiot I hadn't come to terms with myself... Pippa please forgive me!!

xx Emma

P.S. It must be noted Jeremy Deller was quite happy to be my finger for that moment.

My Lucky Day

Today on the way to work I saw a penny on the pavement and I purposefully stepped on it thinking it would make me lucky. I had a pretty good day! I got loads done at work, some nice people visited and then I had Vietnamese for dinner on Wardour Street. Then at 8pm I met up with Pippa.

Pippa's band All About Eve Babitz did a small gig in what they refer to as their "living room" Trisha's the late night bar just down the road from the shop. I wonder how much they all spend there drinking late at night???!!!



I have a few more songs recorded too and I can't wait to make something of them after watching the clips back on the camera. My favourite All About Eve Babitz song is "Strange Idea Of Love" and I think I will make a "proper" video with this one - this song always makes me nearly want to cry when I hear it. Paul B. Davis [my husband - not to be confused with Paul "The Look" Gorman aka Bobby Brown] made a really bizarre recording of Strange Idea Of Love. 10% of the song is a shot of a picture of Pope Benedict XVI on the wall - Daren is in it a bit when he sways into shot. 5% is a couple of tight shots of Pippa's arse in a tight skirt. 15% is James' face studiously playing the piano. The the remaining 70% is just the graphic on the front of Sefton's cool Billion Dollar Boys Ice Cream T. Then when I asked Paul about it afterwards all he could say was he wanted to yell out the whole way through the gig "Show us your tits... ... SEFTON!!" Are guys weird or what?

xx Emma

pics from paul

Paul Gorman just sent me these from the St Martin's do the other night, wanted to show you my top as it was such a great one....and paul looks rather pleased with his choice, i want to say it's the cambridge rapist t shirt but i'm probably wrong....i love how paul always has a copy of his book The Look in his hand....


The photographs are taken by Vic Singh who has a few stories to tell himself...friend of George Harrison from way back when who shot amongst other things the cover of Pink Floyd's PIper at the Gates of Dawn album sleeve.....

pistol at st martin's!

Pippa Brooks with Glen Matlock!

Max and i went to St Martin's college on Friday night where Paul Gorman was doing a presentation to students of Westwood/McLaren tshirts, muslins, bondage trousers etc. I was one of the "models"(wearing a muslin of mickey and minnie mouse having sex) who chronologically minced up on stage to be described and put into historical context - Paul constantly amazes me with his knowledge, it's all there on the tip of his tongue, no notes, i think it comes from being obsessed and a real enthusiast for what you do, which is the best way to be i reckon, no half measures.....Max played some appropriate music in the background and the best part was when he played the Ramones at the wrong speed!!! Glen Matlock (original Sex Pistol and finale model in one of the earliest tshirts) was laughing so hard!!! Really nice bloke actually, i was determined to get a picture of us together for this blog and he was very gracious...in fact here's another one!!!

JUICEEEEE!!!

Yesterday it was my Saturday in Shop At Maison Bertaux again. I love working Saturdays - because there are always such a different mix of people coming in and I love to chat to anyone. My first two new best friends of the day were Martha and Celia Pym.

Martha came looking for the A.P.C. peacoat that has been selling like crazy - which after much deliberation over the size she left a ver happy girl with her new package! Celia apparently is starting a textiles course soon. Then they went up to Chambre A Côté [Maison Bertaux Room Next Door - geddit?]for a hot chocolate and pastry. They wanted it to be clear that they are the biggest fans of Shop At Maison Bertaux because they love it when shops pay attention right down to the last detail. [P.S. Martha and Celia - join our mailing list!]

Then I was fiddling around with the Sonia Rykiel Bijoux in the cabinet for a while.

Pretty gorgeous SONIA RYKIEL BIJOUX keyring and comes in pink or yellow!

And nice SONIA RYKIEL BIJOUX safety pins for your coat [or the baby who has everything - haha - maybe I'll send a few to Britney]

And some SONIA by Sonia Rykiel brooches.



And check out Koyoko Hashimoto. She was going to Paris for Fashion Week to be the Eley Kishimoto model - try on the collection for the buyers in the showroom. We got into a conversation together about Japanese temples and historical places and I was telling her how much I loved Kamakura when I visited there a few years ago. She reccommended Kyoto as another place to visit that she loved. She tried on a few dresses and selected one she needed to take with her for wearing to the parties in Paris she was going to go to during fashion week.

Then at the end of the day when I closed the shop, Max, Katrina who was in The World According To..., her boyfriend and I all went out to dinner at one of our favourite places Trattoria Da Aldo. We got on to talk about the opening party again cause we hadn't seen Katrina since then. Max was telling us again how much he hated a song Paul played - Juicy Fruit by MTUME and singing and the way he did it make it sound so dirty... It was hilarious. Anyway, Pippa and I both like that song. I don't think Katrina is so keen on it - so the team is divided. Any votes for or against this track greatly welcomed by adding a comment on the comment link below this post. I'll look forward to hearing anything anyone has to say!

xx Emma