Bigger and Better

I'm writing this lying on my bed eating a slice of my mum's christmas cake, a hulking great wodge of which I brought back to London....As I fold back the tin foil and the characteristic christmas smell comes wafting out I feel sad the whole festive hoo ha is over but also optimistic about the year ahead.

Here's Max sweeping up the last of the needles after taking down the christmas tree at the shop...he actually managed, with Superduck's help, to force it into a garment bag, quite impressive when you saw the size of the tree, and then take it to be recycled.....

One of my favourite christmas memories is the boys' faces when they opened the costumes Stevie and I made for them( I say I, what my role was was making tea and snacks and sewing the odd oversized wool stitch). There's always the danger with children that you can think you've got the perfect present then their face falls and they look at you as if you're insane for thinking they'd want THAT! There's no sugaring the pill when you're five, no siree, "don't like it!" and on to the next present....but we however, got it spot on with Duke's Jedi and Joe's cat"person" (he's actually obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns but we drew the line at a snap-fastening pvc leotard and instead made an androgynous-ish tunic, which looks quite Edward Scissorhands and cat-mask!).

Duke the Jedi took up his perfect position under the tree so as to get access to his presents with minimum legwork:

They're now obsessed with Stevie's studio, we were in there on Saturday and they were sticking glitter on denim with the promise they can come back and make them into jeans next time....they were trembling at the thought of course and now harbour aspirations in fashion design....

The best thing about starting work is when your mates pop by to say hello again. We had one of those brilliant coffe-morning type gatherings the first day back which was so lovely with Sarah, Superduck and Lucy and I all vying for attention with Sarah snapping away with her brand new camera...


So pleased she gave me the soft-focus treatment...I should always insist on it!!

One of my low points over christmas was eating a promotional item as I was SO hungry! Beth very kindly sent me a YMC biscuit of a coat and I hadn't brought my packed lunch that day so....


Well I was tired and hungry and very cold by the look of me in the picture! That reminds me, Michael Murphy sent me a funny thing the other day, a timesaving device that I'm sure we could all do with slipping in our handbags!

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I don't know how I haven't lived without one frankly!

So, this is the year I get things done, and to prove it, I'm being very regular with my blog as you can see and also exploring other creative outlets....witness if you will the little movie I made during a shoot with Constantine last week....Only last Thursday and already edited and blogged! That's the new me!!!

Three of my most beautiful,statuesque blonde girlfriends agreed to me exploiting them in a shoot Constantine asked me to style....we had so much fun loping about in the basement, dressing up and allowing bonnetising without so much as a murmer! Can't wait to see the pictures but here's an idea......

So big thanks to Alex, Gwen and Johanna, I'm so lucky to have such beautiful friends! And enormous thanks to Stevie who let me pillage the Bodymap archive AND rifle her costume store! Steve and Claire at Rellik for pulling out all the stops and letting me run off with their Laura Ashley stock at Christmas! Nathaniel thanks for being my silent assistant in a hood, and you will notice a smattering of Spring/Summer Eley Kishimoto in there too!!!!

Oh yes, this is the year to get things DONE!!!

If you haven't visited the sale yet, it's all 50% off!!!! See you soon.

Madame xxxx

WHADDAYA WANT FOR CHRISTMAS??!!

OMG! So what have you got on your Christmas list?! Are you having trouble picking something for someone else for Christmas?! Well check out what we got here:



Here is Pippa wearing one of our exclusive hand knits we have in stock from Stevie Stewart - The Tit Jumper. Check out Pippa in an earlier blog post here in video. Stevie Stewart formerly one half of the innovative and influential fashion design label Bodymap now works with top creative names in fashion, music and advertising as a costume, set and production designer and fashion stylist both on photographic shoots, music promos, commercials and films.

Yeah - but check out what else we got!!


A.P.C. Candles! We are usually burning one if you come visit us in the store - Pippa likes the green coloured one and I like the orangy one.



I nearly puked with excitement over these Marimekko purses when they came in!



Hyde S.K. hand beaded pins





More OBEY, Marimekko and Eley Kishimoto



HOT BOOTS from Eley Kishimoto



Socks and scarves from SONIA, Marimekko and Burlington.

Merry Christmas everyone!! And we hope to see you in our boutique really soon!!

xx Emma

It doesn't get much better than this.....

Still reeling from a weekend in which i was treated to two shows by two of my favourite, most inspirational exceptional FABULOUS performers. A bizarre two nights in a row spent at the Barbican, on Saturday night to see the last night of Mmm...by Michael Clark and his dance company, which i actually saw for the first time in '92 because i'm so ancient, and which Stevie Stewart got Nathaniel and me a ticket for. I've been going to see Michael Clark shows since the 80's and I would challenge anyone to out-fan me, I've seen them dance while The Fall played, Brix Smith memorably playing her bass atop a huge burger....while Laibach cranked out a phenomenal, LOUD, set which made your hair stand on end...with Leigh Bowery, singing and dancing and David Holah swinging on the trapeze, and it was always such an exciting event with club people, music people, artists and dance fans all crammed in like you would never see at a more traditional night at Saddler's Wells, or the Roundhouse which was incredible as he danced to Big Bottom, a wall of bass sound in a performance which was really raw....i probably shouldn't go on and on and on as i so easily could!!! If you ever get a chance to see him - GO!!!!!!

And the other amazing thing about going is that you run into friends you haven't seen for ages, like Princess Julia and Jeffrey Hinton, who I never see often enough...

Then I had another train-spotter-fan moment because Ellen van Schuylenburch came up to give Jeffrey a kiss while i was photographing him and she's one of Michael Clark's first dance partners.....well I was excited!!!

On Sunday I made a cake with the boys and a huge roast and then went with my friend Nick to see Antony's show Turning which i can't stop thinking about....cos it was so perfect!! In case you don't know about it he sang while a procession of women took it in turns to step onto a slowly revolving platform, flanked by cameras the images from which were projected onto a huge screen at the back of the stage. Some of the women were really androgenous, some were really exquisite drag queens, some you couldn't tell which, but they were all put on this revolving pedestal where they looked beautiful, strong, serene, with only the occasional smile breaking, it was really moving in a way, but antony always has that effect on me. And then i bumped into some of my friends that had been at Michael Clark, went for a drink at the after-party but never plucked up the courage to talk to Kembra Pfahler from The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black who i've always thought was amazing....
But i did get a great t-shirt!!!!

And shop news is that Xavier delivered some amaaaazing vintage sunglasses today, here's him and Jonathan, wearing their favourites, Jonathan and i have a standing coffee morning date on Wednesday mornings where we gossip, laugh alot and sometimes share cakes...I love the new shop!


Did i tell you Sacha from Hyde S.K. brought some fantastic brooches when she delivered the bags? They're great pinned on a bag too, she has her drawings carved into wooden shapes and bells and bears hanging off them and bone feathers, they're so beeeaaouuuutiful!!!!

Come by and try one on and you can stop to enjoy my tragic exhibition of old michael clark flyers on the notice board - lucky you!!!

pippa xxxx

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!!

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