Twelfth Night

If you're going to have an epiphany, it may as well be on Twelfth Night!

So pull down your Christmas tree, recycle the cards and scoff those festive left-over chocolates...

The Autumn Decorative Fair 2014

Marking the end of this Indian summer and heralding the new season, The Autumn Decorative Fair opened its doors earlier this week in Battersea Park for a six-day-stay until the end of the weekend. With more than 140 exhibitors, delights ranged from fine furniture to folk art, and a foyer full of original fairground and circus artefacts. I opted for a truly vintage look and wore one of my best one-offs: a jewel-green dress, from the '40s, with jazzy floral inserts. It is a real hand-made piece and comes with a lovely history. Purchased from a girlfriend, it was made by her great-grandmother who took on the mantle of 'family' dress-maker. Happily it fits me - as if I was one of the family! And it is accessorised with my charming Hong Kong '50s clutch, bought earlier this summer at Lewes Antiques Centre. My dress was remarked upon by several of the exhibitors including Josephine Ryan, whose pair of magnificent 19th century Italian 'Wonderland' chairs, would be worthy of any Alice, predisposed to curlicues. Best chairs in show! The dress also looked rather glamorous against the rough-hewn hessian, larger-than-life figures at La Place Antiques, which also had some lovely Gustavian chairs. Desirable fare included a 'men-sized' sofa at Drennan, where big is always beautiful; the coral and cabinets at Martin D. Johnson Antiques; the pretty French bateau at Covelli Tennant; and Gallic furniture aplenty at French Country Living Antiques; and pretty horses - the larger one, an exceptional example from the 1880s, by Orton & Spooner.  I went back to the fair on Sunday in my casuals: a Zara knit and Gap skinnies and found a Victorian chair, with Hungarian folk pieces and edged in orange, to try out at Covelli Tennant. And the craziest bag - a crayfish-shaped basket from '50s America -  at Katheleys. Truly out there... in the ocean of eccentricity!
 

I heart Wimbledon

Yes - I do... on a stroll around one of London's picturesque villages on a fine Bank Holiday, after a marvellous lunch at the Fox & Grapes on Wimbledon Common. The restaurant, a 2011 Bib Gourmand winner, was opened by Claude Bosi and is managed by his brother, Cedric. The former relocated his celebrated Hisbiscus restaurant from Ludlow to London's Mayfair in 2007. Casual Nicole Farhi silk/cashmere top joins some slouchy Zara linens and a pair of green leather wedges by C. Doux from Stella C. To top the look are my Tom Ford sunnies, the shape of which is reminiscent of a butterfly.

http://foxandgrapeswimbledon.co.uk/
http://www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk/
http://www.nicolefarhi.com/
http://www.zara.com/
http://www.cdoux.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stella-C/151371178270114
http://www.tomford.com/

Photo (and lunch) with thanks to Hippy from the City
https://twitter.com/HippyfromthCity