Mad (Wo)Men

So, Sarah was rather impressed that I looked very Mad Men, that lovely looking series on BBC4 about an ad agency in the 1950's which I really love when I remember to watch it...in fact you can watch it with the sound off and it's pretty great to look at, not least the super handsome Jon Hamm, the lead....

This is definately the decade that works for him though, I've seen some red-carpet-designer-stubble type pictures of him in real life and don't feel a THING.

So....quite thrilled to be told i was giving it Mad Men Realness:

But then something happens to me around Sarah Lee and her camera of truth...before long I'd lost my neck, shattered all illusions of icy repressed housewife cool and was kicking up my heels like Dick van Dyke meets Mrs Overall...

Then Emma got hold of the picture.....I give up!

You will note from the pile of dirt that I was actually working rather hard with my colour co-ordinated broom....

I'm not a doggy person (apart from in the pic above!) but I met Lucy's dog Raisin yesterday and I've fallen in love with him...

He's so gentle, soft and beautiful and you can put your face right in front of his without any fear, also he puts his head in your lap and is so lanky he can't sit up straight, he tries and then his little feet slide down like this...

And just look at them together!

They make each other look even better!...Lucy here in pistachio Tocca sari dress.....
Then her husband David who's a musician arrived, you can find out about him here

And the whole family looked so colour-coordinated! Some people make you sick! Did they decide over breakfast that today was all about caramel and chocolate.....?

I prefer to accessorise on my own, my Eley Kishimoto mary-janes seem to go with EVERYTHING!!!!

Socks back on again today....I predict next week we will see the sun again.....

Madame xx
,

Too little time.....

I'm lookiing forward to a bit of time tomorrow to tell all Maison B news in a less rushed fashion but there's so many reasons to come and pay us a visit!

1. I've just unpacked not only those silver gymslips from A.P.C. you've all been chomping at the bit for....but also some pretty amazing gold ones with a button front which look very Rolling Stones in Marrakesh.....

2. Obey is finally here!!! Don your Andre's and your women of the revolution printed on the softest, most desirable t shirts you can get your hands on anywhere!!! More on Obey tomorrow, I'm djing straight after work so no time for a proper hoo hah!!!

3. Anyone who loves a maryjane shoe will get somewhat excited by the Eley Kishimoto grey/yellow, print/orange combos. I've been wearing mine for 3 days straight since they came in and they are the most comfortable mid-heel, GORGEOUS shoes!

4. Have you seen all the new spring/summer Sonia?! Everyone keeps telling us we've bought stuff they haven't seen anywhere else but you better be quick, the ladies are ready for colour and snapping up those stripes and polka dots!

For a perverse little p.s. here is the film I made when we went to buy Winter A.P.C. it's worth planning your summer buys around maybe what snazzy little A.P.C. jacket or coat you'll be buying this winter to complement it....and it's worth seeing for my Mrs Overall impression alone.....


Madame xxxxx

Not great but an effort...

So, I was bored and Emma said, "why don't you animate some Westwood jewelry?"....which I'm sure i'll get around to doing sometime but I felt I needed a plot for my three second animation. The plot is that the Eley Kishimoto flash kubrick teddy falls in love with a flash converse and they make a baby....

....and it's not very flash at all....

Madame xx

Finished!

Phew! Emma got her video up so quick-smart that I was shamed into finishing mine! Thing is I had so much footage due to my access-all-areas advantage!!! But anyway, here it is....The Eley Kishimoto front-row view of Autumn/Winter 2008:

As you'll know if you've been checking the blog, we've got some beautiful summer Eley Kishimoto already...yes still waiting for A.P.C.....but I reckon today.....

madame xx

ELEY KISHIMOTO VILLIAGE FETE

Another quick-n-eazee video shot in a few minutes in store at Shop at Maison B. Uploading it to YouTube took longer!! Here is Madame wearing the latest pieces to arrive to the shop from the Eley Kishimoto Spring Summer 2008 Village Fête collection.

The Eley Kishimoto look book poster says about the collection:

Chains and chevrons, organization for recreation.
D.I.Y. hyper reality of balloons and bunting superimposed on the field of green.
Shelters of stripes roof over the pride of grit and fluff.
Rosettes on pumpkins, Ribbons on old junks,
Lurid colours on automated horses, A beauty queen in a paper crown.
Thrill for frills make perfect sense till the hired generators are turned off.

And yep. The Eley Kishimoto Spring Summer 2008 Village Fête collection looks about as crazy as that sounds!

You will also spot in there the Eley Kishimoto Be@rbrick covered in the Flash Print. You can't buy these from the shop but if you want to come in, give him a kiss or get your picture taken with the bear you are more than welcome! Other designers who have decorated the Be@rbrick are Comme des Garcons, Vivienne Westwood and Karl Lagerfeld. There have also been loads of graffiti artists who have done it too.


And speaking of the Eley Kishimoto Flash Print, the Converse sneakers from Japan are back in stock! There are navy blue and white or red and white to choose from. I personally went a bit nuts when I saw the navy and white ones - but I had to restrain - I'm so poor at the moment.

Oh - and I forgot to say, the music for the video is Chanson D'A by Stereo Total.

xx Emma

And P.S. Ima Doll whispered that there is an Agent Provocateur sale basket in the Berwick St shop with samples in it for bargain prices all sized 34B. She got the Eleanor Bra for less than half price! Jealous!

Ima LOVING the new Eley Kishimoto!!

The spring stuff has started to trickle in....starting with Eley Kishimoto! Then Ima Doll happened to drop by and I persuaded her to give it a whirl! Hope you like this little effort I quickly cobbled together, she looks super-cute I think you'll agree and she definately lifted me out of my black mood....the strawberry cheesecake icecream helped too!!!!!


madame xx

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

One more for 07...

When I don't write in this diary now I feel like there's something missing or I'm neglecting someone, you know that wierd feeling when you haven't called a mate for ages....

This is the first time in weeks that me and my computer have been properly alone, grandfather lady and I have spent a wonderful evening with Duke and Joe, letting them open their presents early from him while I cooked an AMAZING chicken bok choi over thai rice with just enough chilli, which made me able to breathe properly through my nose for the first time in a few days....is EVERYBODY stricken with this tedious fluey crap? As I write Nathaniel is groaning in bed in quarantine at the gallery, i've been rifling through the medicine cabinet and found some Benylin sachets I got for free and which seem to be doing the trick, and most people I know are suffering to varying degrees.....

There's been loads of highlights the last few weeks, I've just felt too lousy or been too dog tired to elaborate, so I'll do a quick rounding up to finish up the year in a tidy fashion, I couldn't bear to enter the new year with untold adventures floating in my tiny mind....like the undead.....

Speaking of dead, on the occasion of my birthday, Sarah thought a portrait would be appropriate, except that it'd be best if I looked dead! And she was right goddamnit! Look at this, with Nathaniel's role disturbingly ambiguous...I wonder is he the murderer? A witness? A spy?

Much more original than cheeks puffed out blowing out your candles...I thoroughly recommend a bit of role play, drama etc..
This is Sarah, doing her best teenage Patsy Kensit impression:

...and immediately shattering the illusion...

And Paul Nathaniel and Caz trying to keep warm outside the Coach, actually, Nathaniel is utterly impervious to the cold in that sheepskin and hat - cool as a cucumber, or cosy as a hotdog in a bun or something, Sarah took this one too;

Liza and Ima showed up looking exceptionally fresh-faced and we settled ourselves in the tearoom and cackled into the night..

Etienne showed up which was a treat as I hadn't seen him in an age...

Superduck looked cross but wasn't really...

Alex showed up the next day with her hair a beautiful shade of what I'd like to call "bugger's mauve", like a bombshell tribute to Quentin Crisp it was!

I didn't even get a chance to tell you about Nahid and I at the Duke of Edinburgh Awards christmas party! Champagne reception, quick chat to Prince Edward and a slap up veggie christmas dinner for me!

The meat option was much ruder...

Nahid was queen of course...

Thank god for my Eley Kishimoto ruffle shoulder dress is all I can say! When looking for something to wear, both Nahid and I had a problem finding something "appropriate"....she's got that dress too, could've been a sticky moment there....

We had so much fun, drank quite lots of wine then back to real life and I got the tube home.

The boys did their nativity which I bleeding well loved...

Hattie brought Clemency up west for the first time....

Duke escorted me to the Eley Kishimoto Christmas drinks do which was supposed to mean that I only stayed for one....but didn't...


Duke had his first crush...on Fiona, he took off with my camera and when I got it back there were a couple of other people and LOADS of her, then he kept doing swashbuckling type things to win her honour...

He took some great ones of the other girls too, Thida:

and Chloe:

Did I mention The Look Christmas bash? That was a corker, with the Priscillas, Kevin Rowlands and of course Paul Gorman, Max and I mixing and mismatching on the turntables...well, I say mixing....

The next one is for Valentines.......I'll keep you posted!

I'm running out of steam, I'm watching a CSI (one i've seen before) with one eye and typing this with the other and tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I've STILL got presents to get....Nanny Van's due at 7.30am so I'd better get a bit of shut eye...I'll try to do another post before the end of the year, I've got high hopes for the the one ahead.....hope you all have the BEST Christmas!!!

Madame x

Fashion and Food

I have to say that my photos of night-time shenanigans are getting pretty good, ever since Sarah showed me that slow syncro trick on my camera! These photos from the Eley Kishimoto fashion week party where Max and I were djing wouldn't look out of place gracing a Steven Saban article on hot night-life and beautiful people! I used to love his column in Details, my favourite was one illustrated by a fantastic picture of Halston with a disco light glinting in his sunglasses....oooh or the one with Margaux and Mariel Hemingway leaving a club, Margaux baring one breast as her spaghetti-strap fell down....




It was so great to have Katrina back in London...gotta catch up with her properly this week...

Me Emma, Jasmine and Sarah went out for amazing Tapas in Mornington Crescent on Saturday night and laughed and laughed and laughed.....and laughed!!


Until my nose caught on fire...

The restaurant is called El Parador and doesn't look anything special from the outside but the food is diviiiiiiiiine!!! The vegetable dishes were my favourites, artichokes, spicey patates, aubergine and potato patties and the hot bean and garlic mush to start was delicious!!!

Anyway, if you've had a rough week, tapas with the girls is the best antidote to the blues....I recommend!!

Yes, I'm wearing the new APC polka dot dress in these pics, have you seen the new delivery yet? No? Where have you been???

madame x

Hula like it's still summer!!

We did some hula-hooping, under the careful instruction of Nahid (who seems to be able to spin without moving!) to show you the new Sonia clothes, Obey jewelry and a bit of A.P.C. as well.....we just got another delivery of A.P.C. in yesterday as well and the storyboards are already being drawn up....keep a look out for our next escapades! Also spliced into this film is a sneak preview of Eley Kishimoto's collection for next summer - don't say we don't keep you abreast of what's hot in fashion!!!!



No time to chat as I'm meeting Emma to do bookwork so no time to tell about Eley Kishimoto fashion week party....i'll do that tomorrow!!

madame x
p.s. go out and buy a hula hoop, it's so much fun, I'm going to!!!!

Laugh?

Ok, if you don't come to the Lost Society next month you're MAD!!! I don't think I've laughed so much in AGES...just one of those nights where the fun starts and you can't stop until you realise you've laughed yourself onto the floor of the cab on the way home...eh, Sarah?

so if this is how the evening ended, what on earth went on in the lead up to this?

Mr Mark Eley and I nearly got into a scrap behind the decks...can you see the tension brewing? But I love a good battle and really it was only the pina colada talking....

...and there were better things to do like DANCE!!

..even in your Westwood prostitute shoes, the music was too fantastic to sit still!

Especially when I was on the decks!!!!

There reallly is nothing so wonderful as dancing around your handbag in good company to fantastic music, and though it doesn't look like it here, this was a drug-free high-on-life (plus some fine wine...) kind of a night...

In fact, the only thing to do was make like a monkey (sarah's idea...thanks for that..) swing from the beams and get friggin FUGLY!!!! Even with the special effect light effects which Sarah taught me there's no getting away from the fact that this is one of the scariest picture of me that has ever been taken.......mother of two, how proud the boys will be of me one day....

Forgot to mention House of Boing who did a delightful performance using the whole room, twirling in beautiful frocks and generally bring a bit of class to the proceedings......then it was back to this...


Do come down next time...you know you want to! madame xxx

This and That

As we try to make the most of the last days of summer, I've been craving the sunshine we never had yet secretly enjoying slipping into a woolly tanktop, tweed skirt and, yes an over the knee stocking/sock. I feel cheated yet thrilled by those wintry textures....I mean, look at me 2 weeks ago in Norfolk for instance:

yes, it was August......wierd.
I've not blogged because I've been somewhat busy doing bitty things, mostly trying to spend as much time with Duke and Joe as possible before they go to school. We stayed in this:

with Paul, which was an adventure...did a bit of this:

at the weekend, ate outside for possibly the last time this year:

Ritually sent a McDonald's toy to his death on the back of a rocket:

You see, I hate McDonald's.

On the frocks front, Sarah and Bev have been snapping the new season APC, Eley Kishimoto and Sonia by Sonia Rykiel. Jasmine and Alex have flown through on their way to and from glamorous appointments, and I of course am always in residence to be snapped....and I don't need much encouragement as you know. I'm waiting for some shots of the others, and we'll be making one of our fashion feature films later this week if I can organise everyone to be in one place at once, but in the meantime, here's a few of me in some of my favourite pieces we've just got in:

Bev took this of me in my favourite Eley Kishimoto dress...I've been dreaming about this one since we saw it 6 months ago. To me it conjures up the best of Joan Crawford, it's film-noirish and sexy, and I don't usually wear black.....FIERCE!!

Sarah took this in the stripey Sonia bow jumper and heart brooch

..and this one where I feel I've taken on a 60's librarian-ish persona in Eley Kishimoto jumper....
Chilli did a little modelling, wearing the APC fairisle scarf with the panache we have learned to expect from her cute little self:


I can't wait to film our next movie.....but before then, it's The Look at the Lost Society 697 Wandsworth Rd tomorrow night, where Mark Eley from Eley Kishimoto of course, will be djing along with Max, Paul and myself and there's a performance by House of Boing which promises to be pretty amazing....from 7, do come down....


madame xx

SPRING AT MAISON B

Okay - so now you get to see what the Shopgirls do when YOU aren't in the shop... We try on the things we really want and right now its -
THE GIRLY STUFF: it is either the A.P.C. Madras stuff from Jessica Ogden [£55 for a dress!! NO I'm NOT joking!!] OR anything from Eley Kishimoto's Spring Summer collection.
THE T SHIRTS: we are picking out the best Obey prints and it's tough - they are all awesome.



The music in this video is the track (Let's Go) Get Lost by Patrick Wolf.

Ladies, don't get sad cause we look so incredible. Trust me - it is the clothes making us that way!! Come downstairs to Maison B and get something hot for yourself from Madame. And upstairs you can pick up a cheesey soufflé which is our new bestie fav for morning tea.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

xx Emma

summer breeeeeeze!

Writing this with the door open, a gentle breeze wafting my washing on the line....I know it's sign that I should get out more but few things make me happier than being able to hang out the washing....actually forget I said that, makes me sound tres tres tragique, non?

Slightly subdued though today as Liza and Ima went back to Canada for probably quite a few months; the boys will miss them LOADS and so will I, they're like family now...Ima has a new skin-tone costume in rubber that makes her look like a five foot real life doll (prolly 5'8 in heels!!) and I really hope customs don't find it/DO find it! cos it's going to be such a funny story.....after the event!!

Went to see Patrick Wolf at the Astoria the other night which was incredible! I love him, and have known him since he was about 12 years old (jonathan and I were talking about him and Bishi the other day at one of our coffee mornings and how we met her at Pig Lingo, I met Patrick out and about at gigs....and we thought how we weren't doing ANYTHING cool at 12!!! How fabulously precocious they were!!). Anyhoo, the crowd went MENTAL and adore him, and it's so well deserved, he was always going to be huge, it was just a case of when....My favourite moment was when he and Bishi did the Marianne Faithful/Patrick track "Magpie" which is on the new album - go out and buy it IMMEDIATELY!!!!!

Mark Eley swung by on Thursday in his g-wizz which is printed all over in the "flash" print which has become a modern classic and seems to work on any scale - and they're environmentally friendly too!!! And you can buy one!!!!!!!!!

This next week I start rehearsing with my band again after Daren's back from holiday, and in a shameless act of self-promotion I can announce that we've just had our cds pressed, available of course from Shop at Maison Bertaux!

See you soon, Jessica Ogden's summer APC collection arrives this week so hope to see you for some crisp cotton threads!
madame xxx

Part 1:Babitz go east and Paris in Springtime!

Hello hello, I've got so much hot news that I've decided to divide my blog into two!!! First of all I wanted to post this pic of Emma which I've called "Lektrobaby"!!!

I hope you love this pic as much as i do Emma....I'm not deleting it off!!!
Anyhoo, on Sunday I was in Paris to order winter APC, this is Suzanne modelling one of my favourite tops, she's moving to Oxford soon and promises to come and visit me in the cake shop soooon!!

My glamorous assistants for the appointment were Iris and Hugues, who was in the middle of nurturing a "gypsy" moustache which i think you'll agree is very becoming...Iris is featuring one of the AMAZING winter scarves which is like a super-soft giant marle and i HAVE ordered! I always think it's so odd ordering again for the cold before we've even had the unseasonable scorching summer that they keep threatening us for 07...

I always try to engineer my APC buying around lunchtime because you always get a wonderful, perfectly balanced meal in little aesthetically boxed partitions with delicious cous cous, fruit and salad and i had wolfed mine before I thought to take a pic so you'd be jealous and i just had a smidgen of my fresh cream and raspberry macaroon left so here it is....this blog is a little obsessed with cakes but we do live in a cake shop so get over it!!!
Yum!
Then I had a lovely meander through the streets of Paris and ended up at Eley Kishimoto's showroom just in time as they'd just sent out for some fine wines.....we laughed so much!!! Sometimes at my expense I'll admit, Mark had been trying to get someone into Marjan Pejoski's leather catsuit all week and a glass and a half of wine later there i was throwing shapes but ending up looking like a cross between Max Wall and someone skinny and pretty bedraggled, but i'll share anyway....

It's a beautiful thing but I think being six foot tall is probably in order....Marjan was very proud of his sunglasses purchased at the flea market earlier in the day, 60's but with EK insignia, how appropriate!

We got to a silly state of giggling while looking at pictures of Lily on her flickr when she was young and had very short hair and shiny cheeks, she's got lots of her looking gorgeous as well for balance....here's some helpless gigglers, Lily and Fiona:

Then back in London on Tuesday nite and All About Eve Babitz my band were playing at the George and Dragon (2 Hackney Rd, if you're interested, we have a residency type thing on the first tuesday of every month). We provide a whole evening's entertainment, playing records punctuated every half an hour with a song. We had such a good time, lots of friends came by and strangers too, Richard and Lilianna were away so it was left to Kat be in charge...

Look at Daren, our bass/guitar player with Ian and Zack, how swarthy they all look at an angle!

Here's me and Vickram having a gossip while Jonathan and Sefton were playing their fierce set, usually I play records all night so I really enjoyed having a mingle for once.

Princess Julia came down and I was admiring her new tat, always a pleasure to see the lady, we've got the Yoko Ono issue of the fanzine in the cake shop so get 'em while they're hot......

I think people were getting a bit amorous, must've been the Babitz magic....Look at Ima and Liza and Sefton (without drums but with tamborine and vibrating eggs to keep us in time!) and Jonathan all with their tongues hanging out.....


Anyway, well done everybody, it was a super night all round and i've just realised there's no picture of James in this blog and he'll be FURIOUS! He says "It's like I don't even exist!" but look what I found of him this morning, such a cute pic from when we were in Posh and he had never seen a gym!!!!!!!!
aaaaaaah!
Part 2 where i go to Obey HQ to come...................madame xxx

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

The World According To...

Just before Christmas we had a mini re-decoration at The World According To... and the walls in the stairway were wallpapered with newsprints of Wak's Eley Kishimoto designs. Her drawings of the collections are so beautiful and they make great wallpaper!!



And here is some of what we got in our mega super Silas super sale

Snow White bag and Boo bag!

Some real goodies.
We even have some Vivienne Westwood Bags on sale!

Belts between £5 and £20... Cool!!

Pieces from the Silas archives and one offs!



And all kinds of accessories, bags, belts and ties.

Bounce down the stairs to check out the sale and say hello!

xx Emma

XMAS SALE

I really hate mince pies, but Pippa says Maison Bertaux makes the best mince pies in town. The way everyone was tucking into them I will have to say they must be good!! At the Shop at Maison B Christmas sale on Dec 18th guests were fed mince pies and wine and given great Eley Kishimoto cosmetics or beach balls with their purchases. Thanks for coming down everyone and saying hello. We know that there are going to be a lot of happy people on Christmas morning!! [And a lot of others made guilty pre-Christmas purchases for themselves while they were Christmas shopping for other people.] But I promise - I'm not naming names or blabbing about what left the shop in the cake boxes cause I don't want to ruin anyone's surprises!

xx Emma

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

BIRTHDAY AND MORE!!

Too much to say about the rest of my birthday weekend - a small party at a bar in the West End then off to a rave in Hackney Wick... Here are a few pics:









Then after a whole days bed rest and a day back in the office, I have had time to put together the two videos I promised of Max fresh from his trip in Hong Kong and another of Pippa trying on the new Eley Kishimoto archive collection for the store!!



And as soon as youTube gets it act together and processes Max I will post him up too.

xx Emma

FOOTLOOSE!

My oh my! LIMOUSINES FOR THE FEET! Pippa came with a van full of boxes after visiting the Eley Kishimoto studios having selected more from the archives. All the footwear is brand new box fresh - with heels, pumps, cowboy boots [if you wanna look like a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader], daps, rubber boots in candy colours, sneakers and glam rock heels. Check 'em out:



And here we have Pippa in some of the new clothes she has picked from the archives:

Pippa Lost

Pippa Found

xx Emma

EK Press Day

Today wasn't so much of a stress out cause both shops are closed on Monday's now which leaves me trouble free to do the paperwork in the office at 6 Brewer Street. There were some really bad rehearsals coming up from the Soho Review Bar so I was only too glad to pop over to Shop At Maison Bertaux to see how Charlene was going with the Eley Kishimoto press day. We turned the whole shop over the Eley Kishimoto and Village Press and cleared out everything for the day and they filled the shop with the entire SS07 collection for the world's press to check out.

Weird, cool, amazing and mental all at once!

Loving these socks!!!

Super Bag Alert, perfect for a dirty weekend!

You can even get a frock, bag, shoes and knickers all in a matching print.

And they were as delicious as they looked!

Pippa and Nathaniel also raced by to drop off some more Eley Kishimoto stock - shoes, daps and all! Pippa and I will post more news about that tomorrow!

xx Emma

XMAS SALE SHOP

WHOO HOO!! You ain't gonna believe what we got for YOU!!!

EXACTLY what it says on the tin. Come December 1st, The World According To... will become a Christmas Grotto Sale Shop full of Sparkling Silas Mens and Womens, Kooky Katharine E Hamnett one offs and archive pieces for Men and Women and pieces like garlands from the bottom of Birdie's nest. Great for Christmas pressies or guilty shopping splurges while out shopping for everyone else.
Cash and Cheque only.
If you come down to either store and pick up a flyer, we will add you to the our Friends and Family list. People on our list are automatically invited to the secret sale on the evening of 30 November where friends and family to get first pickings over the one offs and specialty items we have available.
Our regular The World According To... stock is NOT going into the Christmas Grotto Sale Shop but will live over at Shop At Maison Bertaux come December 1st.

Now I know some of you Shop At Maison Bertaux customers still haven't checked out our original The World According To... shop. There are a lot of cool reasons why you should have come to say hello:

The amazing James Jarvis murals on the walls of our stairwell. AWESOME.

The weird stuff you can pick up for yourself or someone else like these Eley Kishimoto and Marjan Pejoski socks and tights

And more spots and stripes than you can poke a stick at.

Looking forward to seeing you all down to pick up your flyer for the Friends and Family sale!!

xx Emma

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

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>

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!

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!!