Maassi Plaid

My sister brought me back a Maassi robe back from Kenya a couple of days ago....I started looking up the Maassi tribe on youtube because when Sarah and I saw the marathon running Maassis in Covent Garden looking incredible, and we started talking about the little we knew of them, I became fixated on their ritual of drinking cow's blood....from living cows!!!

I found a video of the ceremony but found it hard to watch so won't post it here, but I found loads of the men doing the dance where they jump great heights from standing. I love everything about the way they look, their hair lots of red robes but in various plaids, which I wasn't expecting....mine is like a classic rockabilly black and red plaid which is perfect for me! It's on my bed at the moment but come winter I think Nathaniel and I will be wrestling for it, it'll look incredible over ANYTHING!!!!


Yes, winter will be all about Maassi plaids!

Madame x

All Tomorrows Parties

As Nico droned "So what costume shall the poor girl wear...", girls and boys stepped gingerly through buttons and beads strewn all over the floor and picked dresses, coats and jewels off the furniture and walls of the George and Dragon for the party for Nathaniel's shop at 67 Hackney Road on Thursday night!

It was such an amazing sight, the bar itself was full of clutter from clocks to framed pictures of someone's nearest and dearest, and strings of pearls looped across the beer pumps. People walked in to they didn't know what - Anthony arrived to work behind the bar and thought that the place had been ransacked until he realised there was about ten times MORE stuff in the place than usual!

It was so fantastic the way people entered into the spirit and began a series of costume changes which became more and more outlandish as the night wore on....

Sarah went subtle with a Mitford headband...

Jaz was happier with the scarf from her shirt/scarf combo...

You didn't know what you would find....from Dyspepsia tablets...

...to the perfect tweed hat!

I was drawn to a pinny/Women's Realm combo!

And Shorditch's own David Johannsson found the perfect match for his showgirl costume...

Anthony got over the shock and got with the programme....

And Saranne made a new friend...

So many great looks!





And even one gentleman having a good read of one of the second hand books on offer amid the mayhem!

We thought The Lovely Jonjo was going to be a no-show but he breezed in and played an amazing set!

I think Nathaniel was really pleased with the turnout...

And Liliana after she got over the shock of the decorations...

...and started accessorising!
So wonderful to have so many of our favourite people in the same room!

Best party I've been to in AGES!

And if you encountered me padding around in barefeet on the cool cool tiles in the shop yesterday because I wrecked my feet in ridiculous shoes trying to dance on a sea of buttons...I can only say I'm sorry!

Madame xxxx


,

MP Iris Robinson...

In Northern Ireland, has made clear her feelings on "sick" homosexuals, who should incidentally receive psychiatric treatment to help "cure" them.



If you hold an opposing view please sign the petition in this link http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Robinson-Gay/ and pass it on.

Madame x

Happening in Hackney

Tomorrow night we'll be taking over the bottom part of Hackney Road (Old St end), as we're having a party for Nathaniel's new shop at number 67, followed by shenanigans at the George and Dragon until midnight. Nathaniel, Barnzley and I are djing and there will be stuff for sale all over the pub!!! So you could go home with more than a few drinks inside you, perhaps a beautiful vase, new dress or even object d'art!!!

I went over with the boys on Sunday for Nathaniel's birthday/father's day and you can see from the pictures that there's some antiques, oddities and very desirables.






From old burlesque costumes to Edwardian picture frames and jewelry, Victorian watering cans to 1950's fabrics, buttons and beads, old leather suitcases...there's something for everyone here, and anyone who wants to come and celebrate with us tomorrow 18th June at the shop from 6.30 is very welcome.....

Madame xxx

Please....

...don't think I sought out this book just because the heroine is called Pippa.....or has twins......or the last name of my boyfriend.

No, that would make me disgustingly self-obsessed wouldn't it? And that isn't how this happened at all......



In fact, this was one of those delightful coincidences. I was chatting to one of my ladies, getting to know a bit about her and as it turned out she's a book publisher. She was telling me about "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" and we laughed at all the above coincidences...I told her about our modest bookclub (sadly neglected of late), and she promised to send me a copy. I forgot about it and a few weeks later here it was!

I had just finished "Stuffed" by Patricia Volk and was ready to get my teeth into something new....

This Pippa unfolded in flashback and unravelled before me. She's fifty and married to a much older man and they decide to downscale and move into a retirement home....which would throw even an eighty year old person into a downward spin, as there is a sense of waiting to die about doing so. The quiet, homogenised, gated pre-grave community life gives Pippa oodles of time to reflect on her youth, past relationships, the horrific circumstances of her affair with her future husband,her difficult relationship with their twins....in heartbreaking detail.

I read the second half while waiting for one of my boys to have his eyes operated on - and my own anguish was calmed as I got lost in this Pippa's. It sounds like a bit of a downer to a lot of you I bet, but it's actually a really exciting read, I absolutely loved it and would have no hesitation in recommending it to all of you. I've lent it to my book club companion, Jonathan, and i hope to carry on the conversation here, I can't wait to find out what he thinks about it.

I've just started "Fences and Windows" by Naomi Klein "Dispatches from the front lines of the globalisation debate"....reckon I'll be ready for a light-hearted Hollywood biography next........

Tidy up Time!!

The joy of having a tidy is that you come across past gems...and I just had to share these with you!

Sometime in the 90's Max modelled in a fashion-shoot for a shortlived "women's interest" magazine called "For Women". These pictures are noteworthy for so many reasons; the styling was a little lackluster to say the least, you can see them thinking the last-minute knot in the girl's t-shirt might detract from the ill-fitting jeans, that sticking Max in a women's crop top would give the shot edge....

I'm presuming that fake tattoos were a new and exciting thing......but above all, how gorgeous does Max look???!!!! Bless him giving it his ALL, especially in such close proximity to this girl's big pants!!


He's still got the legs you know!

Madame x

Tagged!

Paul Gorman tagged me (I'm not quite sure still what that means!) to choose my top seven tunes...impossible to do, but I decided to just go with stream-of-consciousness and not think about it too much. Quite fun finding the videos (try typing in Teenagers, French Kiss, it's really hard to get to any music!), and I couldn't use a couple because the video had been disallowed...anyway I've missed out tons of things I know that I'll regret later but I think it's best not to think too much about these things!

The rules are set by Simon Reynolds: “List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”


Divine

Eagles of Death Metal

Distillers

Nico

The Teenagers

Chingy (featuring Trina)

Shirley Maclaine

I have to tag seven more bloggers, I hope they will forgive me!

http://www.myspace.com/jonathan_m_kemp
http://www.disneyrollergirl.blogspot.com/
http://www.iris39.blogspot.com/
http://blog.lektrogirl.com/
http://www.eleykishimoto.com/blog/
http://www.obeyclothing.com/
http://thedailyduff.blogspot.com/

Madame xxx

Fraught...

The shadows under my eyes are darker even than usual, I'm feeling a bit wrung-out as it's been a bit of a week. But I was greeted by the transformation of Shop to Hair Salon on Saturday when I went down to cover Lisa's break, and it was a welcome relief....

Lisa's going to Ascot and has had hat worries...but true to her creative streak, she has bought one hat and made another. However, it was in the hair department that she was unsure. She has lovely but very fine hair and didn't think it had the body to do justice to a hat. Then Sam came to the rescue with a comb and a penchant for backcombing and voila! , our Saturday girl had a chignon you could stick pencils in!!!!



Sam knows hair, that's for sure, I've seen many looks he's conjured over the years, from Perm Noir to Anneka Rice on acid - but never seen his deft hands at work on somebody else.....Lisa was still terrified in principle of backcombing, but was amazed at the transformation!


She really is such a lady, she goes to balls rather often too!!!

Madame xx

I can't but you can!

Joe had an eye operation yesterday - in fact only got home this morning, so has had a pretty rough 24 hours....we're watching Bratz now as he thinks they are very healing....with two very red half-open peepers, poor little guy.

So, needless to say, I won't be going to the private view tonight of Alice O'Malley's exhibition Community of Elswhere's at Isis tonight. Although I reckon I'll bring the boys gently into town tomorrow to have a good look. Check out http://www.isisgallery.org/ for details.

Back to Jade, Sacha, Yasmin and Chloe....

Madame xxx

My so-called Life

I love wierd, fabulous coincidences.

But this wasn't fabulous, at least not for me...I'm so pleased for all those it was fabulous for...I am.

A wet Sunday a while ago Emma and I were up in our tiny office on Brewer Street which is situated above the Raymond Revue Bar (sorry, I'm never going to stop calling it that). It's an interesting location for number-crunching, filing and such mundanities, especially as early evening rolls around. That is when the "entertainment" begins, often in the form of band showcases, where you mostly hear (and then never hear again), bands giving their all to lukewarm applause. Then a lull again, and if you're particularly behind on your VAT returns, one of the clubnights cranks into action....Trannyshack for example, where you'll hear happy/euro/house mixes of your favourite chart hits and much whooping will ooze through the brickwork.

But I digress, on this particular damp Sunday I found myself humming along while gathering petty cash receipts (it has to be said Emma wasn't humming in the slightest in fact if I remember she said something like "This couldn't be much worse could it?"..definately not her bag...), as a song was being played again and again "hmmmm hmmmm nowhere...." Then like a lightning bolt I had the terribly exciting realisation that this was Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds!!!! And they were filming their video right under our feet!!!! Now, I went hot and cold several times, especially since I suddenly remembered that Ima Doll had told me she had a part in his new video a few days ago! Emma said I had a look of "how can I get in there???!!!" in my eyes, which then dissolved as I looked at the paperwork before us.....

I am a huge fan of Nick Cave. In fact I'm listening to the Murder Ballads as I write this. And I think the new Bad Seeds album is incredible. I also find Nick Cave desperately attractive, especially now, receding and droopy moustache.....he's HOT from where I'm sitting, not since his junkie days with black black quiff, white white skin and huge blue eyes has he looked so perfect. Or imperfect.

But Ima Doll shared a dressing room with him, not me. Ima couldn't be less bothered to have been naked in front of him while he stood in his pants changing from one pair of trousers into another. Nervous Steven sat in the audience, not me, while they played "More News From Nowhere" again and again....I notice Will Self, Tim Noble and Sue Webster nonchalently making cameos.....oh god, and I was upstairs doing a VAT return......and sometimes life isn't fair.

But here is the video anyway. Ima is the pole dancer in red underwear....and then she took it off....in front of Nick Cave......I could cry....



Madame x

Great stuff at Nelly Duff

I was playing at the George and Dragon the other night, and as luck would have it, Nahid and Rudy were headed that way to the Nelly Duff on Columbia Road to see the Angelique Houtkamp show "Folies les Femmes". So not only did I get driven to work in style, I had a spare half hour to take in the wonderful show and even meet the artist! Reeeesult!

Angelique was showing some exquisite watercolours of lady pirates, carnival queens and freaks. She is a tattoo artist by trade and all the images have that aesthetic, not quite Sailor Jerry, much more refined, like smokey-eyed 1920's vamps with finger-waved hair and pnned eyes....there's voodoo skulls super-imposed on some of the images and they are drawn on what looks like tea-stained watercolour paper - they are sooooo amazing! This is my favourite.....

But I pretty much loved them all....how wonderful it would be to get an Angelique tattoo! I'm a sucker for a woman making it in a man's world and she has really carved herself a distinctive niche. Nahid and I fluttered around her like proper fans and got books signed....

And although the exhibition was a two day quickie, they're holding some of the prints in stock - I'm really tempted to get the pirate-girls set - so if you like the look of anythiing on the website here, you should get in touch or go along for a butchers....

I definately saw a print of this one in the drawer.....

Madame xx

Decision Reached

Was going to get the red patent Repettos but finally decided on the Bardot black and white check ones instead....

Emma was freaking out seeing me padding around in flats - according to her she's seen me at my true height maybe eight times in as many years....it unsettles her!

Madame xx

Little Wonder.....

Today Max and Paul Gorman's T shirt collaboration with Wonder Workshop goes live!!!!



They've worked with John and Molly Dove to re-create some of their classic originals from the 70"s, worn at the time by Marc Bolan, Paul McCartney, Iggy and Robert Plant. So from today you can nip into Top Man or buy one online for your geezer!

YSL R.I.P.

This is a really great tribute news piece, Vivienne Westwood on Yves Saint Laurent in the studio and some wonderful footage.

Madame xx

Meet Geffrye!

You probably already have, and I'm just reaaaalllly slow on the uptake, but I went with some friends to the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road for the first time on Sunday. It's a museum built within 18th century almshouses, and has a series of rooms typical of times through history from 1600 to today. I always loved this kind of thing as a kid, straining against the rope wanting to run amok and fiddle with the display...and the boys were the same! Find out more here

We actually wanted to find somewhere to eat and Nuno suggested the Geffrye, and as Duke, Joe and I wandered past the Vietnamese restaurants feeling more and more peckish, we were suddenly surprised to come upon this picturesque scene, lush with greenery little u-shape of quaintness and quiet! It has to be said that it is the last thing on earth you would expect to come across on Kingsland Road which is quite maingy in places and not exactly pretty, but there it is, a little island of calm and beauty with amazingly friendly staff considering the sound velocity of my companions! In fact, when we met up with Lili, Cassia, Nuno and little Nicholas the excitement was bouncing off the walls somewhat and the waiter came over, I was expecting him to ask me to keep the dudes under control but he just smiled "good for developing the lungs!" - what an angel!....

There was loads for the kids to do....even Nuno had a little doodle...

I wonder if he's seen any of that kinky Smurf stuff on YouTube Nathaniel was telling me and Jasmine about the other night?

After we ate we took a stroll around the Victorian herb garden at the back of the museum which was a revelation, I kept having to remind myself I was on ropey old Kingsland Road....

We got kicked out at closing time so made our own entertainment on the grass out front for an hour or so...Joe made up some dance routines which we were ordered to copy....

...which was seriously great fun, then Duke did some magic tricks with berries he'd collected....

In fact we spent all day outdoors from 11am - 10pm (bit late considering school started the next morning) but we were having so much fun it seemed criminal to end it...lots of early nights this week to make up for it, and with the rain teaming down ever since I'm glad we didn't waste a beautiful day! Actually today promises better things, maybe we'll get that picnic at the weekend after all.....

Madame xx

First Cuts

Daniel at Cuts has always said he'd give the boys a great haircut, so since it was still birthday week I decided to bring the boys to sit on the upended skateboard at Cuts and have a big boys hairdo.

Daniel invented the "buddah" haircut which is as near to Duke's request for "bald please" without being a totally hooligan skinhead. There's something about a child with a complete skinhead that shrieks "nits!" Basically he wanted to look like Samuel L. Jackson, especially when he plays Mace in Star Wars. Whenever Samuel L. comes on telly on that Virgin ad Duke gets very excited, Sam L. is T.I. It! So he was utterly thrilled with the finished look:

Joe was a little less into the idea of a haircut, he's become quite attached to his bangs and the buzzing going on around Duke's head gave cause for more than a little trepidation...

The whole process was altogether less fun...

But the end result still kept the integrity of the original I think...


Daniel is a saint amongst men.

Madame x