Kingdom Of Style

The Boys are Back in Town...

You never know where you are with a ninja!

I suppose that's the point. They are all about stealth. But when you start talking about Ninja Turtles they are taking it to a whole other level.

My mutant ninja turtles have been M.I.A. since I moved to the Far East, taking with them all the little rabbits who make up my rabbit light-table.

As a result, I have been unable to recreate 'The Ninja Zone' in The Royal Garden.

I had looked high and low for them all without success.  But on Friday night I went back up to the loft and moved every single bin bag ( and you know how big that mountain is!) until I found them hiding out at the very back.

So I'm happy to tell you - those turtle boys are back in town...

So while it's off to the garden for the mutants, I'm off to blast some Thin Lizzy, the original bad boys who were back in town...

Queen Marie

Super Duper Sunday Treats...

It's Sunday, you're skint and you know a trip to the shops will result in spending money you don't have.

But still.  Still you want a little something. A trinket, a gee-gaw, a little something special that will put a smile on your face without putting a dent in your pocket.

Surely impossible I hear you say.

Well normally yes, but thanks to the lovely Louise who has a little etsy shop  filled with pretty things for paltry prices, you can give yourself a little sunday treat.

See you over there...

Leather Ribbon Cuff $5

Teacup Necklace $12

Little deer leather bow cuff $5

Leather Bow Tie Necklace $8 - 

(perfect for the dapper chap in your life. I can see Sir Midas cutting a dash in this)

Super and indeed duper.

Queen Marie

x

Bird in a Gilded Cage...

I have never had a pet bird, but that doesn't stop me loving decorative birdcages.

The charming site An Angel at my Table is full of lovely bird things that have me in a flutter...

Petit Oiseau Birdcage £25

Singing Bird in Cage £10

And my absolute favourite, a range of birdcage mirrors £45-£95

Dispatch one of everything to The Palace please.

Queen Marie

Anything but boring!!!

The hats made by the very talented milliner Belle in her etsy shop Boring Sidney are as far removed from boring as it is possible to be...

With a BA in Apparel Design and a Minor in Costume Design, Belle has had the opportunity to design costumes for some 25 plays or musicals over the last 18 years, several ballets, independent film, and a magic show.It was in the theatre that she learned the art of Millinery. It is with a love for the bizarre and quirky, a solid sense of humor, and a driving need to create, that she started Boring Sidney/Belle Millinery 10 years ago. True millinery; hand blocking, creating hat blocks, steaming and building buckram frames is almost a lost art, having apprenticed under a master milliner in the theatre she was lucky enough to learn old world millinery techniques and acquire vintage hat blocks, trims, and fabrics.
Now you have the chance to have her 'dress your head' too.

How could you not love a headpiece called Stigmata $48.00

Rites of Spring $95.00, perfect for summer too!

Dorothy Parker $166.00 witty and wonderful

Queenie $95 - don't mind if I do...

Bella Bella Belle!

Queen Marie

x

On the horns of a dilemma...

For the last couple of weeks, I have been on the horns of a dilemma.

Actually, antlers of a dilemma would be more accurate.

From the very minute I gazed upon the 'antlered beauty' headpiece by the stunningly

 talented Boring Sidney I could think of nothing else...

It wasn't that I wanted antlers, I needed antlers!

So last night I gave in to the inevitable and bought me some.

I can hardly wait for them to arrive or to see my fathers face when he saunters in and catches me wearing them. Oh deep deep joy.

I promise to take proper pictures when they arrive.

Queen Marie

x

Never say never...

In The Kingdom, we have saying - "it's fashion, never say never"...

Some of you may remember away back in December 2007, I pleaded for help with my animal print problem...

Hello! My name is Marie and I have an animal print problem...

It all started innocently enough. A little splash of cowprint. Nothing too heavy, I could handle it...

Then someone offered me some giraffe. 

"No big deal" they said. So I said  "sure, crash me some giraffe..."

The next thing I knew, the lurex zebra was being passed around. Still cool. I know what I'm doing.

I'll only do this in the privacy of the palace, I'd never do it outside. I can handle it...

Then before I knew where I was, I was thinking "I'd like to do some Leopard"

At that point, Queen Michelle staged an intervention saying -

"If you even as much as bring a SLIVER of leopard print into your palace I will know and will punish you! It'll be off to bad taste rehab for you young lady!! 

Don't make me come up that hill....

Posted by: Queen Michelle | Saturday, 15 December 2007 at 20:36"

Fast forward a year and a half and all of a sudden everything's changed. It seems all the cool kids are doing animal print...

"It was this collection that basically started the cogs turning in my head about the possibility of introducing some animal prints back into my wardrobe" Queen Michelle

Luckily for her, my lurex zebra print dress never saw the outside world, so it shall be dispatched to her palace for her to take apart and remake in a zebratastic DIY.

Looking forward to seeing what she does...

Queen Marie

"I'm ready for my close up..."

Having known each other since we were 14 years old, little I say or do surprises the Grande Empress Gillian. So when I called her last night and said I was "popping out for ten minutes to try and pat a cow on the head and take some pictures" she agreed to come along.

Having lived my whole life in a town, I have never had any contact with cows.  But driving to work each day I pass fields and fields of them and over the years I have developed a fondness for them. So last night after a vile vile week, I decided it was time to go and pat a cow. So we headed off for a field only a ten minute drive away which is filled with them. 

When we walked up, they all wandered over, jostling to come to the rail. But when I put my hand out they stepped back, except for one forward youngster who put her head right up to my hand.  I rubbed her head and nose. It was exactly as I thought it would be, warm and like a big dog, but it was unexpectedly hard.  

They may have been shy, but the minute I got the camera out!  Holy Crap, it was a stampede to get to the front. Cameras ready, prepare for cows...

Looks like I will have to add some cows to my wish list of a Reindeer and Donkey for when I have my big house in the country...

Queen Marie

"All right Mr De Mille, I'm ready for my close up"

If you have never seen Sunset Boulevard starring the glorious Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded Hollywood star living in her own fantasy world, take action and remedy the situation at once!!!

Beautiful Aggression

The work of label Aminaka Wilmont makes me pine for structural layers so badly. The duo behind the label, Maki Aminaka and Marcus Wilmont, create a kind of beautiful aggressive feminism; a powerful concoction of androgynous tailoring, bright graphic prints, leather, sweeping chiffon and a general air of luxury and allure. Everything I desire in clothing. It is however the AW09 collection that really cement these ideals and I am left yearning for autumn so I can explore fashion in the way the truly love - layering up on textures and fabrics.

the Scandanvian pair met whilst working for Robert Cary-Williams and they were awared the Fashion Fringe trophy by Tom Ford and Christopher Bailey.

Clothes like these have an emotional effect on the wearer, perhaps even more so than very traditional feminine/sexy pieces. It's hard to explain, but whenever I wear something by Jean Pierre Braganza, for example, who also has a certain aggression within his work, then I feel stronger emotionally. The exaggaerated shapes and proportions become a kind of protective armour and the challenge of making pieces, like these ones, not overwhelm me is quite exhilirating.

Fashion aficionados realise that at the core of their passion is the unerstanding of how clothes can alter and express an emotion without having to say anything. Good clothes can do that. Good clothes are an experience and I think the people who argue that fashion is merely wrapped up in vanity haven't actually experienced good clothes.

Queen Michelle

Animal Crackers

My relationship with animal print is an iffy one. I owned the obligatory leopard print faux fur coat when I was a student which I nearly always wore with shiny PVC trousers and army boots, but past that one coat there hasn't been much by way of animal print in my wardrobe since, apart from one zebra print t-shirt.

When I wrote about menswear label Sibling a while ago, I did imagine one of the sequined leopard print jumpers would be a rather welcome addition to my closet and looking at collection two, where the print is pushed further, I am liking it even more.

It was this collection that basically started the cogs turning in my head about the possibility of introducing some animal prints back into my wardrobe. When I saw a pair of cheetah print leggings in TK Maxx for £3 I bought them immediately. The print is small and subtle but it's a start.

And, like everyone else, I am rather loving the Ashish for Topshop ponyskin wedges.

I think with animal print you have to do it with utter conviction. There's no denying it looks trashy, so I would just amp up the trashiness and add heaps of different animal prints together. The zebra Ashish wedges would look amazing with one of the Sibling sweaters. Of course, by the time these shoes land in stores I'll be back to unemployment so my chances of actually getting them are slim, but in my head I'm already wearing them!

Queen Michelle

Urban Guide To Glasgow

Your Royal Highnesses were asked by Urban Outfitters to create a guide to the best places to go to in Glasgow. So should you find yourself in our part of the country then please view the guide here for the Royal tour!