Bring on 2015!

January is the corridor month into a new year and how you approach it is often indicative of the year to come. It is also when one takes a brief backward look over one's shoulder at the previous year and then one looks firmly forward into the new one, ideally from the comfort of home, precisely my living room.

Last year had so many highlights: unforgettable art exhibitions such as the Matisse: Cutouts at Tate Modern which I returned to again and again, for those dazzling displays of colour and form from a master scissorhands and the ground-breaking show at the Royal Academy with Sensing Spaces bringing architecture up close, personal and to the rafters in Picadilly. Also at Tate Modern, the Paul Klee and Malevich shows were both absorbing and inspiring whilst the RA's Summer Exhibition is always a fixture in my calendar.

At the V&A, each exhibition seemed to outdo the next in the glamour stakes: from the peerless Pearls show to the Glamour of Italian Fashion and those Bulgari jewels, owned by Elizabeth Taylor, to the more recent Horst show.

In south London, I enjoy my thrice yearly trips to Battersea, with the Decorative Art Fair to make a purchase and discover what exactly is taking the interior designer's fancy at the moment, as well the two weekends in May which celebrate  Artists' Open House. On the street is certainly where I help take fashion from local boutique, Paraphernalia, from CroftFest to Croftmas. It is my only opportunity to dress up in totally different looks, without having to buy the clothes but I inevitably fall for that one piece!  My local gallery, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, always has interesting shows, notably 2014's Hockney: Printmaker and Art & Life and currently has brought Emily Carr to the capital and sparked fresh interest in one of Canda's best-loved artists. And in the shadow of Tower Bridge, the Design Museum showed off the endlessly inventive talents of Paul Smith in a memorable exhibition.

Further afield, we had a grand weekend at Knepp Castle (not as guests I might add) but helping friends with their vintage stall at The Floral Fringe; and a couple of trips to Chichester to visit a favourite, the Pallant, to see the Pauline Boty and J.D. Fergusson exhibitions. The Pallant House Gallery also re-affirms that small is not only beautiful but always fulfilling and a trip to Margate in late summer showed that the Kent seaside town has a showcase gallery in the form of the Turner Contemporary. And for all the above events and excursions, I continue to wear clothes from my wardrobe: old, new, vintage, repaired, reconstituted and reinvented, but always with aplomb. That's really the only accessory required. And a little Dior lipstick!

Allen Jones RA

Cutting a dash in Mayfair lately is this distinctive orange sculpture by Allen Jones, and arresting poster girl, Kate Moss, wearing one of the Royal Academician's 'bodies'. The ever-controversial, often-debatable Mr Jones, a pioneer of Pop Art, is enjoying a major retrospective at the RA's Burlington Gardens, the grand mid-19th building by Sir James Pennethorne. Allen Jones' show has provoked further discussion as well as mixed reviews. Either way, you can't ignore him even when you set those cut-out figures against the august statues of 17th century philosophers, Sir Francis Bacon and John Locke. The latter wrote 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'. Indeed! 
To see the exhibition I wrapped up in Joseph knits, with a Tait & Style scarf. The bag is DKNY and the boots, by Ras, are firm favourites.

Chichester: Revisited

Last year in June, I headed down to Chichester, in 'Pallant-bound' and 'Bill's, Chichester', and now I'm back again, for both the Pallant and a pit-stop at Carluccio's. The magnificent cathedral guided me to the centre of the city, down charming cobbled streets to the art gallery to view the last marvellous hour of The Scottish Colourist J.D. Fergusson exhibition, after which I passed the Stik men, by a London-based street artist, whose work is to be found across Europe, Asia and the USA. I ended the day at Carluccio's with a lovely meal comprising hand-made tortelloni and wine-braised venison, followed by a delightful cioccolata fiorentina. Wrapped in layered winter greys: a Lowie cape, a TK Maxx merino wool jumper, Nicole Farhi trousers and my Louis Vuitton vintage bag. Both Thierry Lasry sunnies and Versace reading glasses (two pairs are needed when you get to my age!).

It's all in the geometry

Caught the last weekend of the Royal Academy of Arts' interesting show, Radical Geometry, highlighting the dynamic work of a host of 20th century South American artists, as they challenged convention to create new geometric abstract art. Part of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, the exhibition was all lines, forms and shapes, rather like my backdrop: the glass/steel staircase in the RA's Sackler Wing, built by Foster + Partners in 1991. By way of contrast, my look was all frills and furbelows in a fine silk duo: a top from By Malene Birger and a Miu Miu skirt from that swish Milanese store, 10 Corso Como, and a soft dove-grey pashmina, slung across my shoulders. My snake T-bars are by Ash and the silver leather shoulder bag by Angel Jackson just keeps on looking better with age!

End of colour

The end of colour... as we know it. More specifically, at Turner Contemporary in Margate, where its latest exhibition, Summer of Colour, came to a close earlier this month. Celebrating the works of Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian, from early landscapes and a dazzlingly red windmill to his later distinctive lozenges of colour which inspired the late Yves Saint Laurent, in 1965, to incorporate those block shapes onto shift dresses. I decided to step out in my favourite hot-pink trousers, last worn in 'Carluccio's, South Ken'. The trousers are by British designer, Ally Capellino, who launched her womenswear collection in 1980 and is now best known for her accessories range. My breezy chiffon top is suitably colourful and graphic, whilst the shoes and sunnies, by Roberto Cavalli, are retro but sleek.The three year-old art space on Margate's seafront, designed by David Chipperfield, was also showing ethereal light installations by Brooklyn-based American artist, Spencer Finch, in turn inspired by Turner, who was both schooled and visited the town on sketching trips. Outdoors, on the terrace, contemporary Dutch artist Krijn de Koonig placed 'Dwelling' whose strong Mediterranean colours certainly heated up the Kent town by a few degrees on a September afternoon.