LIGHTS OUT LEIPZIG

Hey folks, I'm back after the worst weekend I have had in Germany for a LOOOOONG time!! What was meant to be an awesome weekend to see DJ Godfather at the Distillery there [my friend EDMX has a residency there] turned out to be a bed ridden sick fest for the one night I was there. Almost all I saw was the inside of the hotel room. And then only outside time I spent was totally alone cause everyone else was getting ready for the party... I was so happy when Pippa started to send me text messages asking me where particular files were on the computer back in the Shop office so I had someone to talk to.

First I had a nice lunch in a local pub where a big scruffy poodle came and sat at my table and stared at me with every mouthful. It was a bit creepy. Then I went to the supermarket over the road where I bought some Ungarish flavoured potato chips and apfelsaft [envisaging a late night return from the club needing a midnight snack.] I always love to check out the meat and cheese you can get at the supermarket there.





And I always stop to check out the "weird alcohol section" cause you always find something unimaginable there...



So after that, went back to the hotel, caught a bit of VIVA and MTV but then ended up LIGHTS OUT IN LEIPZIG as sick as a dog until first thing this morning in time to get the plane home.
Oh well... I hope you all had a better weekend!!

xx Emma

Keeping up with madame....

I've got plenty of excuses why i haven't blogged in an ETERNITY but i won't bore you with them.....let's keep this up up up people!!!!! I've been to Paris since i last talked atcha, to buy autumn APC as it goes - you'll gag!!! - and it's always lovely to be alone in Paris i think, yes, so apart from my fashion appointment I was free to window shop (and actually shop!), compare the patisseries to Maison Bertaux...which always comes out on top!, read my Gypsy Rose Lee autobiography and consume too much cafe creme...

Not bad, but get a load of Maison Bertaux on Valentines Day.....

See what I mean?
This was strange and worth a mention, around the corner from the hotel I was staying in in the Marais district there was what appeared to be a herb garden on the side of a building...

Quite beautiful.....and odd.
Fashion week was great at The World According To... because Eley Kishimoto took the shop for a week and made it their showroom, and with a few swathes of fabric and a bit of blacking out of the windows made the space into a cross between Janus and Star Wars...


Max and I went for our buying appointment with Duke and Joe, which has become a bit of a tradition, Joe works his way through the shoes and Duke pulls karate shapes, while we have a few glasses of wine and try stuff on, well I do, not Max obviously...

Me in my favourite EK coat, the collection's so wonderful, some amazing oversize plaid coats and my favourite dress was a severe Joan Crawford number....very me.
Lilliana let the boys fiddle about on her computer, they couldn't believe their luck, i'm like the police every time the boys go near mine....!

Duke took a shine to Fiona......and now the shop's back to Silas sale mode.

February sucks in many ways but it's always lovely to get a visit from ladyfriends, Princess Julia and Hannah from the Pix zine came down during fashion week for a bit of a gossip and to try to use the landline for a hot interview for issue 6 of their 'zine with YOKO ONO!!!!!!! (available in Shop at Maison B hot off the press!!!)

Well at least we've caught up a bit....I won't be a stranger for so long next time......madame xxx

END OF AN ERA

Yesterday was my last official day working for Max and Pippa at their company Shop Inc Limited. None of us know when I started - except we found my hand writing in a stock book once that is now over 7 years old. Other than Max and Pippa, I was the longest serving member of staff there. I can't even begin to tell you about all the things that went on in that time. Some of it was hideous, some of it was so frustrating beyond belief, sometimes we resigned or sacked each other in fits of tears but most of the time it is all looked back on with fits of uncontrollable laughter!!! I still find myself snorting back a laughing on the bus now at things that have happened - like the time Max made me try on a super small mesh Playboy thong over my jeans in Birmingham years ago [don't ask for more details...], Pippa's hangover on the way to the airport for a gig in Germany [ask her for more details!!] an stupid nicknames we have for each other that I never get sick of. [Well I don't really like "Ebola" but again... don't ask.] Because the business has such a small team running it Max and Pippa are like family to me now. I'm sure I will be hanging around and this post will definitely not be the last you'll hear from me.

So what exactly happened on my last day? Pippa and I met in the office on Brewer Street [Louise you still have your box of emergency Tampax hidden under the shelf if you ever need it] and she brough coffee's from Flat White and cakes from Maison Bertaux.


Also fun to do: just listen to the audio on it's own and imagine what Pippa might be doing...

Then we did a bit of work until Max turned up with some very very VERY good news [but top secret] and a present for me from Ladurée - some Anna Sui macaroons!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!
And after Pippa and I had scoffed three each, we were feeling like we had taken HOW WE IMAGINE IT FEELS LIKE on drugs so for our own well being I shared the macaroons round with the other girls before Pippa and I scoffed the lot and ended up in ER.

Lisa in The World According To...

Cheryl with a cute new Eley Kishimoto blouse for SS07 behind her!

And Hannah at Shop At Maison B.
Anyway - a super sweet way to finish up at Shop.

In other news:

The other day I was around at the VICE magazine offices and I found where they keep their famous gross jar

I didn't dare take a look. There were a couple of boys around and you know how defensive and protective they can be over their secret weird things. Besides, at Shop At Maison B we have our own bigger and better gross jar - THE DRAINS - which I am sure you have read us whinging about before. They are gonna get fixed tomorrow with a CCTV thing on a string and a huge pressure water jet!! I wish I could be there to check it all out. What if they find bones!! I'd have to call Gill Grissom!! Well we actually call this guy

He is from M. T. Drains [geddit?] and he has been the dude poking round our passages pulling out all sorts of lovely stinky stuff. He really stinks but he is always smiling.

And I'm off to Australia at the end of April to visit my family and while I'm there I will visit Katrina in Melbourne. I haven't been to Melbourne in years. She will be able to show me her new shop which I'm really looking forward to. The other thing I'm looking forward to is my nephew Sam. He was really into Australian Idol when I was there last and this is what we made together.


xx Emma

From Rubbish to Miu Miu...

There's always good things to balance the dreary realities....being creative in some way always leaves me on a high, whether it's rehearsing with the Babitz's, or in the case of yesterday, doing an improvised shoot inspired by APC for our website which I did with Sarah Lee, who's a wonderful photographer but also such fun to be around, and Alex who, if you've seen the blog in any detail is one of my best mates and possessor of the fiercest cheekbones and is a gorgeous all-round looker!! So we were trying to evoke french films, blurring the boundaries between cakes and understated parisien streetwear!!! As Sarah flicked through the pictures she took on the digital screen on the back of her camera - and now as i have the hot little cd burning a hole in my handbag - I realised we'd done something really special, with the best of Maison Bertaux and Shop all in a lovely little vignette...I'm not sure if that's the right word but i'm leaving it in there.... Anyway I took a coupld of snaps while we were at it which are a bit crap but thought i'd share!


We met a few friends while we were hanging out, leaving lipstick stains of coffee-cups and tucking into eclairs photogenically, Jenny from Rubbish was having a meeting with an extraordinary chap called Guy who makes REFLECTIVE tweed plus fours and such, as you can see when i used my flash to full effect! Isn't that a revolutionary idea? If you're a bicycle-riding dandy I strongly recommend you check out dashingtweeds.co.uk as i'm SURE no-ones else is exploiting this field!!

Today, while the drains were working my nerves and barclaycard started my day off on the wrong side, I realised there's nothing like a bit of good female banter to lift your spirits. First my good friend Pokkers made me laugh a lot and then two

lovely ladies Bev 'n' Stef made the day brighter still with scurrilous talk on all sorts of people, a mutual love of "gofugyourself.com" which is HILARIOUS and Bev happened to have on those incredible pewter/silver miu miu space age stilettos and looked incredibly space-secretary which is a look to go for for spring i think.

Stef was rocking a Silas '98 smock top which i have to say is very APC this season, it was the collection that Max and I christened "skateboarding princesses", because they had all these pretty pleated, smocked dresses and shirts in masculine shirting fabrics and ripstop...those were the days. Good to see it on an outing and proof that Silas will never date....R.I.P. boo hoo!!!
madame x
p.s. one more for the shooooeeees!!!!!