Kingdom Of Style

A photograph never lies...

Or does it???

You would need to have been living under a rock to not realise the massive impact photoshop and digital imaging have had on the images we are presented with every day.

Looking at this cover of Grazia, highlighting Victoria Bechams diminshing frame , a supposed reaction to events in her marriage, no one could deny that she looks tiny and frail...

But when you look closer at the image, you will be in for a surprise. Her jawline and her hand have been photoshopped making her look even thinner...

Now doubtless Grazia could say that they were just 'tidying up the shot' but come on kids, you could see that clipping path from outer space!!!

It is always worth remembering, that everything is not as it may first appear.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to phone the Grazia picture desk and see if they can photoshop 6 inches off my arse...

Queen Marie

Loving your ears since '97...

optimo espacio  have been loving our ears since 1997.

Tonight they celebrate their 11th birthday with a special birthday night. 

It is obviously a sign of age, but the birthday seems to come round quicker and quicker every year.

It is quite difficult to describe optimo.  It is like nothing else.  Some people love it, some people hate it but if you have ever been, you won't forget it... Keith and Jonnie have encyclopedic record collections which they plunder and serve up on a weekly basis.

Every year I make them a present, and if I say so myself, this year's offering has turned out rather well.

In fact it's discotastic...

3 sided, revolving and back lit, this little display unit, should look rather splendid in the dj box.

Happy Birthday for tonight.

If you get the chance join me for some cake and dancing later!

Queen Marie

x

The plastic is in full bloom...

Writing yesterday about William Chamber's plastic flowers  put me in the notion for digging out my miu miu plastic flower garland necklace...

Flowers in the frost...

Flowers in the sun...

Queen Marie

The Treasure of Bin Bag Mountain Part 6...

The Return to the Sub/ Plein Sud Sequin Dress

While dancing with Sir Dan and Lady Bex last week, Danny reminded me that it was the 6 year anniversary of us all returning to the club.  So naturally my thoughts turned to this dress...

It was late on a Sunday Night, in November 1999, when I got a phone call telling me the sub club was on fire.  Or rather the post office next door to it was.  It was an Optimo night and as they all sat across the street, the firemen assured everyone they would be back in by midnight!

Midnight came and went and through the course of the night and over the coming weeks and months the situation grew even more dire.

A couple of weeks passed and we were all certain that we would soon be back in the club. One saturday, I was in Cruise with Lady Lisa, when I came upon this Plein Sud sequin dress.  I seem to remember it was in the sale but was still about £250, but it was love at first sight.  I declared it my 'return to the sub' dress and promised not to wear it until we were back home.

It was to be a long wait...

The end of November saw us in Planet Peach, where we stayed until we decamped to MAS in January 2001. All the while my pretty dress sat unworn, waiting for the day.

The day didn't come until November 2002.  It was an emotional night and was the first and only time I have ever worn this dress...

But,in view of the anniversary, Queen Michelle and her 'happy pink dress' and the fact that tonight at the Sub should be a special night with Telford and Marcus Worgull playing, I do believe a second outing is called for.  See you at the side of the dj box...

Queen Marie

x

I have just looked outside and there is a freezing fog, so thick I can hardly see the Royal automobile. I think I shall be wearing this dress with my wolf ears, ten jumpers, a parka and sheepskin gloves. brrrrrrrr

"Everyone deserves a hat"

Wise words from the Glasgow based milliner William Chambers.

An email from the lovely Nialll at PabloPR popped into the Kingdom mailbox through the week to tell us that William and Glasgow artist Katie Paterson had won the People's Prize and Panel Prize respectively in the first annual VICE Magazine Creative 30 competition.  The aim of the competition was to find and celebrate thirty of Britain’s most promising young creative people.

I love William's hats. If you go and visit the creative 30 website 

you can watch his video clip and hear him talk about how his hats, what inspires him and how he makes them.  I especially loved how he melts the plastic he uses over a candle.  So much love and devotion, which is evident in everything he makes.

I love love love these little mini feather berets.  I need one perched on the top of my head.  I know it would maybe make me look like an oversized flower fairy or acorn but I would care not a jot...

With her deep love of feathers, Queen Michelle would look divine in this...

And how glorious is this plastic flower headpiece...

Pop over to his website and it will be sure to turn your head...

www.williamchambers.co.uk

Queen Marie

Please and Thank You...

Driving back from the club, Sir Midas and I often get to talking about our pet hates.

Like pensioners in the post office, we bemoan a lack manners and our despair at litterbugs.

You should never underestimate the value of kindness and politeness.

The writer Jean Kerr once said-

“Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.”

The world would be a nicer place, even if everyone just faked 'polite"

Talking of Thanks, The Kingdom would like to wish all our chums across the water a Belated Happy Thanksgiving...

We should all take the chance to count our blessings today and concentrate on all the good things in our lives- friends, family, loved ones, a fine head of hair, your own teeth,_______ (fill in your own blank)

I thank you.

Queen Marie

xxx

Chrissie Morris Love

I try and stay away from shoes which are of the expensive variety since I can trash shoes pretty quickly therefore it's money down the drain. Of course I have succumbed many times but those shoes don't see the light of day too often incase of aforementioned trashing. That doesn't mean to say I don't like to indulge in some virtual window shopping.

Of late my shoe appreciation has been going to British designer Chrissie Morris. She graduated in Fashion Design at the John Moores University of Liverpool in 2000 where she focused her research on Knitwear and Constructed Textiles. But it was only when she continued her studies at Domus Academy in Milan that she began exploring shoe design.

It's clear that what she learned whilst researching textiles has been put to good use in her career as a shoe designer since all her creations are rich in texture and shape. I also appreciate that she isn't afraid to keep her heels nice and chunky. Always good.

Queen Michelle

Going Dutch

During Amsterdam Fashion Week the Dutch Project Catwalk winner, Django Steenbakker, presented his first collection. I must confess I never watched any of the Project Catwalks simply because I abhor reality TV, even if it is fashion related. So I am looking at his work on his own merits, as a young designer, and I must say I really like it.

Overall the collection seemed to lack cohesion, seeming more like a random fusion of ideas as opposed to having any single thread which ties everything together. You can see lots of influences; Marni, Prada, a bit of Balenciaga but he has managed to merge them into his own vision and it comes out quite fresh and modern.

If I saw it in a shop I'd be quite excited. I particularly like his prints and the striped coral and black dress. It'll certainly be interesting to see if he has staying power.

Queen Michelle

Wowed by KapowWow

Whilst in London in September I popped into Beyond the Valley and they had a couple of the wonderful KapowWow ruffled neck scarfs. Sadly none in a colour I wanted but I recently checked their website and was pleased to find they don't just create ruffled pieces, but also scarfs which are made from layer upon layer of strips of reclaimed fabrics that look like ribbon and some which look like a huge tangle of textiles. Utterly heavenly.

A fabulous neck ruff has been on my list for some time although quietly in the back burner, but my desire has been re-ignited once more because I'm reading about 16th century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory. One of, if not the, most prolific female serial killers of all time. She is said to have been hauntingly beautiful yet with an insatiable appetite for awful cruelty, and is believed to have killed upwards of 600 young women over a period of 30 years. Her portrait shows a woman with huge dark eyes, dark hair piled high on her head and covered in red,  wearing a huge ornate ruff and a dress of velvet and jewels.

I would of course be more than happy to have one of the other incredible pieces to tide me over until the perfect colour of ruff comes my way.

KapowWow are also stocked at Pixie Market.

Queen Michelle

The Pink Dress

For several months now there has been a dress sitting in the Cancer Research shop. The dress is vintage 60's, handmade, bubblegum pink velvet with a gold and pink brocade bodice. The dress is so sickly sweet that I recoiled whenever I picked it up. Yet I still picked it up. Like a bad accident, I couldn't stop looking at it. Then I bought it.

I got it home and once again recoiled from it's sugary sweetness. Yet I tried it on. And I liked it.

What is happening to me?

The dress obviously was made for a child as it had a nigh neck which was really tiny and had to be cut off. The sleeves were also long but the wrists were also tiny and so I had difficulty getting my hands in, therefore I shortened the sleeves. It also must have began life as a long party frock because someone had haphazardly hacked off the bottom which I had to hem.

For reason I know not, I love this dress. Who knew.

Queen Michelle