Kingdom Of Style

Let's end the evening with a kiss...

A kiss as sweet as chocolate...

I need this darling dress in my life. I found it in an etsy store called dinwiddies 

which is filled to the brim of things which delighted me...

Queen Marie.

Hats off to H&M...

For they have been foresighted enough to snap up The Kingdom's favourite Dallas cowboy, the charming and talented Mr Levi Palmer

He will be heading off to Stockholm in the next few weeks and we wish him every success in his new job. So to say my own little Thank You to H&M, I put my money where my mouth is and popped in yesterday and purchased the perfect little pom pom hat .

I have made him promise to keep and touch and let us know what he gets up to!

Congratulations Levi!

Queen Marie

x

What would Milton Friedman say...

I don't know about you but if asked to picture a graduate from The London School of Economics, I wouldn't picture this...

No! this is not an ice loving Mr Van Winkle! this is Cody Ross of Priestess NYC  who picked up some pattern cutting experience at St Martins as well as an economics degree before reurning to New York via Asia  to set up his label to make fun clothes for fun young things in 2008

And while I could never wear one of his little dresses, those monster feet have got my name written all over them...

Queen Marie

An apple a day...

So the geekfest continues.

Today I watched the 2008 documentary 'welcome to macintosh' by Robert Baca and Josh Rizzo.

Most enjoyable it was too, but especially wonderful was the carnaptious Jim Reekes

Reeke was a programmer at Apple for 12 years and was responsible for many things including the Mac OS start up sound. He says about it -

"Mac people are very familiar with the sound, after restarting their machines too often. In fact, that was one of the issues I was conscious of when designing the sound. Turning the Mac on is one thing, but being forced to reboot from a crash is a totally different experience. I wanted to avoid a sound that would be associated with the crash. I wanted it to sound more like a "palette cleanser. The startup sound was done in my home studio on a Korg Wavestation. It's a C Major chord, played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible (with 3rd at the top, if I recall). This just sounded right to me. I wanted something really fat, heavy bass, high notes, and a sharp attack. The chiffy sound was from pan pipes and something like a stick hit (I'm testing my memory here). I wanted lots of evolving timbres, stereo phasing, and reverb for further richness."

He kvetches and bitches all the way through, and was the total highlight of the film for me

Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to reboot the ol' iBook...

Queen Marie

Feeling a little citysick...

As much as I enjoy visiting other cities and other countries, I'm always glad to get home. I love Glasgow but there are two other cities where I could quite happily imagine living - Detroit and Belfast. I can't explain the special love I have for them. Even when I visited them for the first time, they didn't seem strange to me, they felt familiar and already loved. I have often thought that one of the reasons may be is that they are quite similar in architectural style and history. But it is more than that, it's a feeling deep in my bones...

So strong is the connection, that sometimes I feel a little city sick for them. The strangest things can set it off. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere, sometimes it is something much more specific that sets it  off. Back in September , Queen Michelle and I, had just arrived in London, when suddenly in the taxi on the way to the hotel, I was overcome by a desire to visit Belfast. I'm not sure what it was, the light, the shape of a doorway. Sometimes it can be something very small.

But last night, my Detroit citysickness was set off by something very specific and very obvious.

I was watching The Island,  trying hard not to laugh at Ewan McGregors very bad American accent. Set in the future, he and Scarlett Johansson were clones on the run , supposedly in the LA. I only had half an eye on the screen, when all of a sudden they ran into this building...

LA my arse. They were in Downtown Detroit.

This is The Michigan Theatre, once an elaborately decorated theater at the heart of a busy and vibrant downtown Detroit in the 1920s. Closed in 1967, sometime in the 1970s it was converted into a parking lot, where floors and ramps were installed with only the most necessary intrusion upon the old interior. I've stood in there many times and just gazed in wonder at the strangeness of it all. 

So here I am typing this, still suffering from a real bad case of city sickness. I think Detroit is out of the question until next year, but maybe I could manage a little weekend in Belfast before the end of the year, finances permitting.

What about you?  have you ever been city sick? ...

Queen Marie

PS - in case you wondered which city is which above. It's Belfast then Detroit then Glasgow xxx

Bringing up Baby...

When it comes to luxury brands, I like them them best when they are advertised in a glamourous way. I'm talking in a full on, 'old hollywood starlet' type way. Unattainable, aspirational and almost fantastically glamourous.  Sadly not many companies can carry it off.  That's why I was so excited when I came across the latest Cartier advert...

Glorious! and all the more wonderful because it immediately made me think of one of my favourite old school Hollywood movies - the 1938 classic comedy Bringing up Baby, starring the handsome Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

It's hard to believe that this film bombed when it first came out! If you haven't seen it yet, you are in for a treat, so go find it right now...

Queen Marie

x

Helvetica? Hell yeah!

Another thing we adore in The Kingdom is type.

We can't help ourselves. The inner graphic geeks always get out.

So you can imagine how excited I am about watching the 2007 Gary Hustwit Film 'Helvetica' tonight...

Every bit as exciting, is everything made by a  girl called Jen, in her wonderful wonderful etsy shop called Plastique. She is a graphic designer who makes these highly covetable things 

Helvetica Necklace $20

RGB Necklace $20

It seems Jen also shares our other passion - music...

Turntable Necklace $22.00

Cassette Tape Ring $7

And my absolute absolute favourite Cassette Necklace $22.00

It will come as no surprise to learn, that I have a big box of tapes in the loft exactly like this. I used to buy my blank tapes in woolworths when I was small. I loved that red shiny plastic. There are certain things that I can never throw away - photographs, records and of course old casette tapes.

So I gotta say it -  'Jen! you're a genius'

We'll take two of everything!!!

Queen Marie

x

Boiled, poached or fried?

Queen Michelle and I look at lots of things in a very different way.

But when it comes to breakfast, we are in complete agreement.

There is nothing more splendid and self indulgent than a big fry up.

A big full english breakfast is the breakfast of Queens.

But sadly it's the kind of treat saved for high days and holidays.

But now thanks to kungfumonkeyrobot I can enjoy bacon and eggs every day. Yum Yum Yum

Bacon and Egg Scarf ($15)   Bacon and Egg Gloves ($8.25)

Now remember I like my bacon extra crispy, almost cremated and my yolk slightly runny...

Queen Marie

Packing Paxton

I am really loving Fiona Paxton jewellery at the moment. It's ornate whilst maintaining a bit of a rock 'n' roll edge.

Dripping chains, leather, pearls and jewels - sign me up!

Found at Nina & Lola.

Queen Michelle

Drill Your Own

Here's some music for you today. I loved this band back in the late 80's - Gaye Bykers on Acid. I'm sure they had a film for Drill Your Own Hole but I can't find it anywhere.

This is Nose Dive Karma.

Queen Michelle