Kingdom Of Style

Don't despair, we still have Wallis...

and it's still delivering new goodies every week!
Before we lost the will to live on Saturday, this little bag was appealing to Queen Michelle.  I imagine it is the hard frame above all that is appealing to her and at £24 you are getting a lot of bag for the money.

I also found this glorious cuff bracelet today and it is only £10!

Queen Michelle will totally rock this when worn with her 'future classics' look.  I would imagine the future classics dress will be snaffled up later this week.  She may try to fight it but the frock will win out.  They always do...

Queen Marie

A Matter Of Principles

Or should that read "what's the matter with Principles?".

For awhile now those of us in the UK have been teased and tempted with snippets of their new collection called Nouveau. It looked like it might be more directional than the usual Principles affair.

Make no mistake, I get amazing jewellery from there all time, but it's more a Queen Marie shop than a Queen Michelle shop. Everything is always exceptionally good quality, but it just isn't quite directional enough for me to actually buy clothing. But when I saw all these dresses appearing in magazines hailing from the up and coming collection - I was pretty excited.

I particularly wanted a version of a Fendi SS07 dress they'd created - the black and white tunic dress. The Principles version had a glorious leather look waistband and looked so damn good. It was priced at £110 and I would have paid for it for sure. But as I just checked the site having received the email telling it had launched...they'd clearly bottled it. The dress I most desired had turned into a really cheap looking rip off and they'd taken away the best part - the waistband. Yes, it's much cheaper than originally priced, but it looks much cheaper too, and way more boring.

Even the dress in the teaser screen ended up a pale imitation. I can safely say I am heartily disappointed.

The block dress looks OK, but I really don't think I'll be rushing to a Principles any time soon, as what they say they'll give you and what you actually get seem to be two entirely different things indeed.

Queen Michelle

Fear & Loathing In Aberdeen

John Lennon said "Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans"...

As you all know, the plan was to take a leisurely drive to Aberdeen, shop and then head down for a serious night of Discoking strutting. Long story short, life sneaked up behind us, kicked us on the arse, poked us in the eye, gave us a chinese burn and ran away laughing...

Cup of tea before we head off and our well packed bags...oblivious to what was ahead of us...

And we're off!

We set off about 12.30 with a full boot and happy hearts. It was a glorious day and we were making good progress.  About half way between Stirling and Perth, Queen Michelle asked Sir J and I when we had last been in Aberdeen.  The words had no sooner left her mouth, than something went 'pop' and the car ground to a halt. We pushed it off the motorway and the day started it's descent into hell...

Disaster followed mishap followed broken followed despair followed anger followed utter disbelief.

Prince B makes some frantic calls. Lucky we at least had a flask of tea!

A visit from the AA man and a conversation with Direct Line left us with no option but to abandon the car and get a taxi to the nearest train station. While waiting for over an hour for the taxi, Prince B had to answer the call of nature behind a tree, which resulted in a very very angry woman shouting at us all.  She screeched off to be replaced by a police car and police helicopter hovering above us.  Thankfully the taxi came and got us to Perth Train station.

And they're off and so are we...in the opposite direction!

It was decided that Prince B and Sir J had to get the train to Aberdeen and Queen Michelle and I would get a train back to Glasgow...and head off again for Aberdeen, but this time in my car!

We got to Aberdeen at 11pm (Glasgow to Aberdeen is approx. 200 miles!). We had been travelling backwards and forwards for nearly 11 freakin hours.  But we had no other option, it would have cost nearly £300 for all of us to get a train back home on the Sunday, if we could even get on a train as they are usually fully booked.

However your Queens had gotten away lightly compared with the poor Discokings. When they arrived they discovered ALL of the equipment was faulty - decks, monitor and mixer. B and J were incandescent with rage and sick with disappointment. All the rehearsing and planning counted for nothing.  At one point Prince B walked out halfway through playing a record leaving Queen Michelle frantically trying to get Sir J to quickly put on another one!

But when the going gets tough the tough get going and by golly did they get the dance floor going! Although they were having the worst night of their lives, the crowd were loving every minute.  It was hands in the air all night as the punters lapped up every single banging house track they played, totally oblivious to the shoddy sound and the hell their DJ's were going through.

Prince B and Queen Michelle - thank god it's over!!!

Eventually praise the Lord it was over and we escaped back to the hotel for a few hours sleep before coming back down the road yesterday.  We all felt like we had been gone for two weeks on the worst road trip EVER but we all stayed positive, treated it as an adventure rather than a catalogue of disasters and bizarrely all had a really good time. Strange though that sounds!  We could scarcely believe it ourselves.

Like the swedish proverb says - Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow

Queen Marie

A Fond Farewell

Well as Queen Marie mentioned earlier, the palaces are taking a weekend trip and we shan't be posting. Lots of dancing and prancing but no posting.

I am DJing this evening so this will be my last post til Monday. Queen Marie may post later this evening, but as of Saturday we are all off to lands far away (well, up north) to watch my Prince and his DJ partner in crime give Aberdeen a jackin' house night to remember.

Until then my friends, feel free to peruse the archives til such time as our Royal return.

Queen Michelle

40 Is The New 30

I have spoke many times about age and it's effect on how we dress. I self check pretty often, as I really, really don't want to look like I'm desperately trying to cling to my youth, as that just reeks of desperation. Whilst I'm nearing 34 soon, people still tend to think I'm in my mid-twenties, in part due to a continual use of moisturiser with SPF 15 since I was about 19, so no really noticeable lines. Yes, I probably do dress a bit young for my age, but I am fairly sure I get away with it for the time being.

I realise everyone says that age is just a number, and for those who's number is lower, for them that is true, but as soon as your age is bigger than your jeans' size, you should start to have a look at how you dress, unless you are a the rarest of creatures who really doesn't care what people think at all, in any way. And even those people, if someone were to honestly and frankly come up to them as say "love, you really do look like mutton dressed as lamb", I'm certain it would sting.

So I have accepted my limits, and my look gently adjusts accordingly. It's such a sub conscience adjustment I often don't even realise I'm doing it. But as I look at how younger people dress and perceive fashion, I recognise a definite gap.

It is true that what we would have expected someone in her 30's to wear 10 years ago, really isn't the same as what we expect a woman in her 30's to wear now. The goal posts are moving all the time and quite rightly so. For that I am eternally grateful, as I sure wouldn't be comfortable wearing striped socks over spandex otherwise!

I have said before on here how I was considering getting a bob, because I have no desire to become one of those women with witchy long hair that's past it's sell-by date. I have the odd grey hair popping up here and there and I don't want to dye it (years of abuse have taken it's toll, so I want to give it a well earned break), so the thought of long wiry grey hair isn't all that appealing to me personally. But after much consideration I decided I'd hang on til I was 40 then chop! I'd get a bob. That's when I saw this photo on the Sartorialist, and I saw how I want to be at her age.

She is simple perfection. She has stripped away all the unnecessary, youthful layers and clutter, and is the truest essence of herself. Just her, her hair and a winning smile. Total perfection.

Queen Michelle

Not A Tortilla In Sight

Seeing Queen Marie's poncho reminded me that my mum lived in Mexico for a while, and her neighbour was this amazing looking Mexican woman called Clarise (I think that was her name anyway). She has photo's of her and Clarise sitting on the porch in the hot Mexico heat and Clarise always had this huge white smile.The thing that always struck me was the fabulous colours she was always wearing. From the bright blue stones in her jewellery, to the deep reds, purple, coral, orange and greens - she wore a myriad of gorgeous colours, offset by her black hair and welcoming smile. Every since I have always associated Mexico with those kind of colours.

It's no surprise then why I love the work of that of Guadalajara based designers Julia and Renata, as their work is awash with all those gorgeous colours. They won the first prize in Moda Premio design contest for fashion illustration in 1994 which led them to move on to New York. Participating in Mexico Fashion Weeks 5 times and counting, and having their first collection bought by Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field, you can see why they are on well on the road for massive success.

Now, I'll be honest here - I have had this post in my Possible Posts folder for a wee while now, but once again some badly executed moving images on their site prevented me from featuring, as I can't get the screen grabs I want. That makes me so mad. It frustrates me to the point where I vow never to wear that designers work, even if they came to my door and handed me a big box with every item in it and told me they'd pay me £25000 to wear a garment a day for 6 months. Of course if that ever actually happened I would gush with excitement, wear every single thing and then use some of the £25000 to help them get a better designed site. I get free clothes, they get a good website, everybody's happy. I would be real happy wearing that red and black ruffled top right now.

So, I can only you show what I could get images of (the problem is when you click on the thumbnails, if you can as they move so damn fast, the larger pop up images don't correspond with what you've just clicked). There is some much nicer stuff in there so it's a shame I can't show you. But you get the idea...

Queen Michelle

feelin' partial to a poncho!

despite being destroyed by the scummy high street versions that flooded the high streets and markets a couple of years ago, I have always been very partial to a poncho.
This Tomas Maier one makes me think of a mint toffee and is now half price in the net a porter sale .If I had a spare £216 to spare I would snaffle this up in a second.

Queen Marie

you give me fever...

With only a few days to go, it has reached fever pitch at fever!
The discokings return to Aberdeen has been sold out for weeks.  With a capacity of only 200, Poor Prince B has been fielding phone calls from near and far with people wishing to come and pay disco homage on saturday night.

He has decided that he is just going to hug everyone, even people he didn't like back in the day. Admirable behaviour I'm sure you will agree.

As the entire Royal Household will be on the move at the weekend.  We shall keep in touch as best we can.  There will of course be new thrifting ground to cover.  Oh deep joy...

Queen Marie

The MaxMara Debut

A wee while ago you'll might remember I scooped a gorgeous vintage MaxMara dress from a charity shop, which I thought Lady Lisa would totally rock in, well with some hem altering later the dress made it's debut... and indeed she looked just like a Lady....

Her conclusion?

The Max Mara dress made its debut at a dinner I was attending at a client conference in glamorous Cardiff on Monday!  I got so many compliments and of course I said it was "vintage Max Mara, sourced from the fashion queens, dahling!". 
 
As the dinner was quite a conservative affair, I decided to keep it simple and teamed it with my green jacquard 60's jacket from Brigitte, black opaque tights (brightly coloured ones would have clashed with the jacket and I didn't want to wear green and look like The Jolly Green Giant!), t-bar wedges, bone cuff and my Palizzio vintage bag (another Brigitte find...) which I tucked the handle into and made into a clutch. 
 
Dress - £5, alterations - £12 = grand total of £17.  I felt and looked like a million dollars!

Lady Lisa

O The Joy!

You either love her or hate her. Her brash onstage antics, fearlessly aggressive attitude when she performs and she sure looks like she could drink any man under the table. She is the quintessential rock chick of modern times. I'm talking about the delectable Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.

She may not be traditionally good looking but what she lacks in old school prettiness, she more than makes up for in feistyness! It was she who made me see how great leather gloves can look.

Her costumes are created by a designer called Christian Joy. They are over-the-top and properly costume-y, which is what makes her presence even more impressive. These concocted garments, of seemingly randomly found objects and material, all combine together to create the visual feast that is Karen O on stage. It's chaotic and shambolic and fits perfectly with her writhing screaming persona - a million miles away from the perfectly coiffured Natasha Beddingfield's and Sophie Ellis Bextor's of the music world.

However, if you expect a Karen-esque style costume when you look to own a Christian Joy piece, you'll be disappointed. But what you will get are perfectly constructed, wearable works of art. They might not have reels of cassette tape hanging off them, but you'll get gorgeous sculpted hooded dresses, layers of grey and black with subtle piping and some detailed ruching here and some draping there.

I really love the very clever separate hooded waistcoat, which can be worn over the simple sheath dress, and they somehow morph into one another. If I could, I would buy every single item in the collection. I can't, but I sure could settle for the second dress...

Queen Michelle