Magic

Friday was such a magical night! Remember back in September I told you about a day out on Clapham Common with Superduck, my boys and a bunch of their friends where he filmed them "lip-synching" to imagined backing vocals?

So glad to have another reason to publish this photo which I LOVE! Anyway, Friday night was the night of the actual Sigur Ros gig at Alexander Palace. Now, the boys have never been to a proper gig before and the fact that their first one would feature themselves is quite a bizarre and of course wonderful experience (I hope they don't expect that from every gig in the future!!).
Superduck was slightly nervous as to how his films had been edited for the show....would all the children feature? Would they be distorted and rendered unrecognisable? Would there be a mass meltdown of the under tens before they even got to see their tiny moment in the spotlight???

Here's Duke and Grace demonstrating to anyone who'll listen their excellence in the field of "oooh"s and "aaaah"s...

When the moment actually came it was magical....as Jonsi Birgisson asked the audience to join in, there all the children appeared projected behind him, all the kids started to gasp "it's US!" and clambered up on shoulders to get a better look. It was so perfect.

Here's the svengali himself with his cast.....

It would have been great to stay for the whole gig but we'd already done pretty well and thought it best to cut our losses, plus it was quite a schlep home so off we went into the night.....big thanks to Michael, Melanie, Ness and all the kids for making the night go so smoothly, to Johnnycakes for playing daddy and being an extra pair of shoulders but most of all to Superduck for asking the kids to get involved in the first place. His visuals with Sigur Ros really meld into something quite extraordinarily poetic and beautiful and I leave you with the trailer for his documentary "Vid Spilum endalaust" which is going to be available in limited edition to accompany a new book about the band...I've seen the whole film and it's breathtaking!

If you want to check out more of his work....http://www.nicholasabrahams.com/

Madame x

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

Icelandic schoolgirls anyone?

I'm rather proud of the fact that I styled these lovely Icelandic ladies for Nicholas Abraham's new Lee Hazlewood video!

Don't they look great? Their names are Inga and Birna and Abrahams followed them over the rain-soaked hills (with his camera of course) as their gymslips got more and more soaked.....they'd better not've stretched my berets out of shape!....

madame x

All The P's!

Well the girls' night out at Paul Gorman's Look Presents...at the Lost Society was p-p-p-perfect!!!

Those nights always feel like your friends houseparty with special guests, it's wonderful! Also I had the honour of being billed as one of the special guests as I was djing, so even better!

Here's Paul giving as good as the girls, bare breasts n all, with Caz, me and Pam Hogg:

Poppy and the Jezebels played a fabulous set of their dreamy pop songs, cor they dress really well too!! They look like little Biba models and they've just released a mini-album "Follow me Down" which I would recommend you buy ASAP! Here they are with Pam:

And talking of Pam....The Hoggdoll not only performed some of her dark, rockabilly-tinged songs giving her gold-clad ALL, she then rocked the house with a dj set that ticked all my boxes!!! You've gotta love this woman!

Having planned an early exit due to fatigue I found myself dancing myself dizzy! Mark Eley was a latecomer who made up for it quicksmart and Superduck even shuffled his brogues after threatening a no-show!

Caz is one of the best dancers I know and the way she was shaking her tush I couldn't resist!

Here's Paul and her front:

Max left before the snapping frenzy but as usual played up a storm...hadn't realised he was such a fan of Blank Generation unitl now....enough said about that Mr-Richard Hell never heard of him-Karie!
In fact Mark will be djing at the next one which is the first Thursday in September (the 6th) and All About Eve Babitz are rumoured to be playing so I know you won't want to miss that!

That's about all my news except to say the AW APC has just arrived-you'll love love love it!-and Duke learned to ride without his stabilisers at the weekend....

.....madame xxxxx

Scrambled Head and The Lost Society

Not sure why but I feel like my brain's been whisked briskly with a fork....or something...I keep putting things down then forgetting where, and I've got a ton of things to do, but it's that one step forward two steps back thing going on......

So I think I'll just post some pics from the last couple of weeks in no particular order. There's been lots going on, celebrations, birthday parties, my boys turned five, Nick turned forty...but still undresses in public with the vigour and vim of a teenager...

Sonja took all the photos except this one which I love because Sonja and I look like very expensive dominatrix's..

It was upstairs at the Betsey Trotwood and very victorian sitting room...

and the impromptu photo-session was a right laugh.
I also went to Ronnie Scott's for the first time to see Jimmy Scott with Nick which was wonderful...at least it was in the second set when we asked to be moved as we noticed some people left and promptly got seated at the very front! So that's my Ronnie Scott's tip...lie in wait for the early leavers! Suddenly we were on intimate terms with Jimmy and he seemed to be singing to us alone...Motherless Child made me well up indeed, such a beautiful voice out of such a frail frame, in fact he really is delicate, can't stand to sing anymore......GO AND SEE HIM IF YOU EVER GET THE CHANCE!!!! If you don't Nick'll have something to say about it!!!

Our friend Emma Forrest came by the other day out of the blue which was a lovely surprise! Haven't seen her for what seems like years, we've spent some wonderful times in LA at the Formosa or just hanging out at magic hour, shopping at Trashy Lingerie, getting tattoos, in fact we all shared a hotel room once rather memorably.....Anyhoo, she used to live in London and used to come to the first Shop where we met when she was barely out of her teens and a rather accomplished rock n roll writer, following the Manic Street Preachers and Wu Tang Clan amongst others. Now she's a screenwriter in Hollywood if you please and about to have her FOURTH novel published, called Damage Control - out soon!!!

Here she is getting into a bit of Andre the Giant.

Duke and Joe turned 5 last weekend which would have been more fun if we weren't indoors due to the freezing cold and flash flooding! However James kindly lent his house and we had a party all the same, picnic and pass the parcel on the kitchen floor....probably still covered in glitter thanks to Joe and his glitter wand!

Duke made his share of mess with the water-filled canary warbler!

I like those Antony Gormley figures on Waterloo bridge and the south bank, they look lonely, sad, optimistic or post-apocalyptic depending on your mood as you walk by or trundle past on the bus....they're quite friendly too, Nathaniel struck up an interesting conversation on the way home the other night.....


Next Thursday do come to the Lost Society in Clapham for an evening chock-full of entertainment! Not only are the wonderful All About Eve Babitz playing but Kevin Rowlands is djing along with Paul Gorman, Max and Pippa, should be marvellous! Get your glad rags on and come south of the river, this bar is fast becoming THE place to hang out!


see you there!
madame xxx

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.