Boutique watch: return to Nancy Pop

You might remember from a previous post that I had spotted a fabulous party dress for New Year's Eve at a shop called Nancy Pop, but not acted on my impulse - the shop was closed and, mostly, the quiet toasting of the New Year at home did not quite justify the red silk jersey and sequins!  I have always been intrigued by Nancy Pop, a shop one can miss easily despite its huge shop-window on Kensington Park road.

I have "popped" in (sorry, but it is hard to resist a bad pun) several times and been intrigued by the range of clothes, from casual skinny jeans in bright colours (definitely too skinny for me) to Eley Kishimoto tops or wildly printed dresses. I could not quite figure out the style and focus of boutique. After talking with Sofia Johnsson, designer and stylist who runs the shop with manager, buyer and fellow Swede Helen Roysdotter, I am a bit clearer and definitely still intrigued.

Opened in 2006, the boutique mostly stores "occasion wear". Run by a small team "that does everything" and is refreshingly friendly, the boutique aims to provide original, individual clothes with both good fit and quality. What I saw as rather unfocused, they describe as "directional" and I can see a fun and playful element in the selection. The name of the boutique comes from Nancy Sinatra ("sophisticated elegance") with "Pop" bringing in fun and eclecticism. The wild and beautiful prints I had noticed are from Sarah Arnett.

From what I understand, Sarah Arnett, based in Brighton,  is now focusing her business on bridal wear. Her company sadly went bankrupt but you still have a chance of picking up one of her scarfs pictured above (£45) or a dress from her last collections, reduced to half-price at Nancy Pop. The dresse below is now £140.

Sofia, ever the stylist,  suggested that I try on a chiffon Sarah Arnett dress that I had not spotted - floaty and beautiful - I loved it.

The new designers currently displayed in Nancy Pop's window strike me as rather young in focus. Sofia, who looks about 18 but tells me she is 40,  assured me that some of the dresses work well on a 40+ woman. Olesia Makhonko's silk dresses below are not for me (£360 for the blue dress and £280 for the pink) but could work as party dresses, with or without a cardigan depending on how toned your arms are! Olesia Makhonko apparently has a loyal following (of older women in particular) and had to extend her production of the Dita Dress, shown below, due to high demand.

Another designer that they stock is Cami Cuckoo with a summery tie-dye cotton wrap dress (£154) that I could imagine wearing. Again, the cardigan might come in handy.

Eley Kishimoto will continue to be stocked by Nancy Pop whist Zandra Rhodes will make her debut there as well as well as a new designer called Valone Valone that I am curious to discover.

Nancy Pop is located at 19 Kensington Park road, London W11 2EU. Their website: http://www.nancypop.com/
To learn more about Sarah Arnett: http://www.saraharnett.co.uk/

The Kooples - the young couple

French fashion brand The Kooples uses couples of all types and ages in its advertising.

The tag line for the ad mentions that Jean-Francois and Tanya have been together for 2 and 1/2 years. Pretty cool in the biker gran category!
Have a look at their website: http://www.thekooples.com/

Oscar fashion

Looking good at 40+!

 

Kathryn Bigelow

 

Meryl Streep
 

Queen Latifah

 

Helen Mirren

 

Mo'Nique (40 this year)

 

Vera Farmiga (still under 40)
 

Demi Moore (indestructible)

Oscar is a woman.

Much has been made in the press of Kathryn Bigelow's Academy Award for best Director, a first for women.

 

Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Greg Shapiro celebrate Hurt Locker's Oscars victory (Photo: PA)

I must confess that I have not seen any of her films so I can't claim to have a particularly well informed view on whether the honour is well deserved or not. I would just like to say that it is interesting that the first woman to win the best Director Award should do so with a war film, a typically male genre with an essentially male cast.

It is quite typical, isn't it, that women need to prove themselves in a way that men recognise and can understand in order to make it in traditionally male fields. In any event, congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow and let's hope she opens the way for more women directors, hopefully with films from all genres and even with women in their cast!

Tough fashion

Flying back from a welcome break in the South of France last weekend, I read Ruth La Ferla's fashion trend article in the International Herald Tribune (Sunday February 28, 2010) predicting a return to tough fashion for women: In a Tough Style World, No Damsels in distress.  From her observations and conversations with various fashion consultants/stylists/shop owners, she develops the notion that women are turning away from girly styles and adopting harder looks, "studs and leather, mannish jackets and rock-star jeans" with androgynous undertones and a blurring of gender dividing lines.

"a down and dirty kind of look" according to Andrew Bolton, curator at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art who is quoted in the article.

The "tough" look is also one of the trends highlighted by the Sunday Times Magazine (dated 28/02/2010), telling us to mix straps, buckles, zips and chains with sex and glamour.

I am all for a return to more assertive women, ditching the sex-object looks and footballer's wife vulgarity but I am not entirely sure if the shoes shown above, still sky-high and dominatrix-inspired project the right kind of forceful image! However, I have noticed lately that my eldest daughter - the ruthless judge, is sporting slashed, loose T-shirts instead of her usual skin-tight styles and studded (flat) boots - could it be a sign of an emerging toughness? In any event, a bit of rock star stance might appeal on days when we need a confidence boost and I'll be on the look out for a wearable version of the "tough" look for a 40+.

A good place to start might be Ash, the Italian shoe makers - their style can have that sexy but harder edge. Some of their designs are frankly slutty but I like their vintage leather boots and some of their sandals.

They also have a good line of trainer inspired shoes with heels and plenty of buckles. I am not completely crazy about them but they can solve the short woman's perennial dilemma of how to wear trainers without disappearing entirely from view.

The shoes are available from two shops in London and other retailers for selected lines.
To see the new collection: http://www.ashitalia.com/

Clogging it

Consecrated the "must have" accessory by the French Elle and seen in a number of British publications, the Swedish Hasbeen clog is what we'll apparently all be wearing this Spring. The wooden soled clog-inspired collection spans the gamut from boots (€345 or 2795 SEK):

 

to sandals (£130 or 1495 SEK):

  

and proper clogs (1495 SEK):

 

Nostalgia and comfort might actually make us wear them!

You can find the sandals at Top Shop online: http://www.topshop.com

The whole collection is available from Swedish Hasbeen and they ship worldwide: http://www.swedishhasbeens.com/index.php

Health according to David Servan-Schreiber

I don't know about you but I find that this time of year is simply the worst. Winter seems to drag on forever with the odd sunny day immediately quashed by the return of cold and rain. I also seem to drag myself sluggishly from lethargic day to cocooning evening in. My listless state is simply seasonal and I am ashamed not to be more energetic when family and friends are facing serious health problems and confronting them courageously. So, when I came across an interview of Dr David Servan-Schreiber, the author of New York Times bestseller Anticancer: A new Way of Life, I thought I should pay attention to his recommendations for a healthy life and spread the word.

His book, written from personal experience, is coming out in a new edition in France as Anticancer: les gestes quotidiens pour la sante du corps et de l'esprit (editions Robert Laffont). He argues that, there is a lot we can do to prevent cancer from developing and to help recover from the disease in following fairly simple guidelines:

Food

• Eat your veg: 80% of your meals should be made up of vegetable and 20% of animal product.
• Turmeric: David Servan-Schreiber has a thing for that spice and recommends that we eat it together with black pepper which helps absorption. It is used a lot in Indian and Moroccan cooking, so lots of delicious dishes ahead.
• Green tea and its great anti-oxidants.
• NO REFINED SUGAR
• The usual wholemeal bread, "good" oils (olive, linseed and flax-seed), garlic and onion, plenty of cereals, 2 glasses of RED WINE per day, organic if possible.

Stress-busting lifestyle

• 30 minute walk 5 times a week
• Social interaction: look after your friends and have them pamper you too!
• Naps to recharge your batteries or 5 to 10 minute meditation or breathing exercises per day. Yoga is good too!
• Early nights: Dr Servan-Schreiber hardly goes out for dinner and turns in at 10:30pm.

Nothing revolutionary but solid science-based facts that can help us all. The soothing music and the editing in the following clip is pretty corny but you might learn something!