Sartorial Sirs

Antonio, who worked at Penguin Books a few years back, told me stories about the Neo-Edwardian, Neil Munroe Roger, aka 'Bunny Roger' as he had met him on a few occasions. An article on Bunny is in the October edition of Elle Decoration and further reading can be found on Mr Peacock's blog dated 8th June. It was said that he had gone into battle 'wearing a chiffon scarf and clutching a copy of Vogue'. Talking of peacocks; I attended a mod club in the old banking district of EC3 the other weekend, the venue was full, the vibe was friendly, relaxed and easy going but on the packed dance floor one couldn't help but notice the slick suited sirs checking their appearance in the mirrors, frequent adjusting of the cufflinks, ensuring the 3 pronged handkerchief in the top pocket hadn't worked itself out of place and keeping that' just so' haircut in check after a dance to a Trojan or Northern Soul classic tune.

Just heard on Radio 4 the sad announcement - RIP: Tony Curtis.

All in Black and White

I've read this a few times over the past few years by Justine Picardie published by Picador. Daphne is also fascinating reading on the life of Daphne Du Maurier. Making a trip to Greenwich Waterstones to buy Coco Chanel: The Legend The Life (published on 16th September) before catching the train to the South Coast for a day or two; I need some evening reading as I've no telly there.

(Book Jacket designed by Richard M. Evans at Macmillan Books)

Glow Frocks

Tim Walker's beautifully styled photographs for Vogue. Perhaps I should illuminate my wardrobe and hang it outside now that Autumn and the early dark nights are slowly creeping in?

Steel Grey for Today

A day off today, caught up with a few chores, leafed through Annie Bell's delicious Country Cook Book and decided to make an aubergine lasagne as there is something quite satisfying about making a bechamel sauce, then trying to finish off a scarf that I began knitting approximately a year ago now. But it's raining and grey outside now, so I'm running the taps and going to spend a leisurely half hour in a hot bath reading back editions of Selvedge in the hope it will give me motivation to pick up the knitting needles again.

I-Spy

I always admire the spartan quality of Myerscough and Mairs styling, less is definitely more in this case. Bells Bicycles just a few doors away in the High Street and is a reminder to get my 1970s Rayleigh Caprice, which I was given for free by maverick genius willow weaver Lee Dalby, revamped and while I'm at it give the Rayleigh Chiltern a check up which I bought a few weeks back for £10 at the local Greenwich and Bexley Hospice as the chain doesn't engage.

Just noticed that Blacklands in Ore is currently up for sale on The Modern House website which lists all architect built houses for sale. This space was Jake Chapman's studio, designed by architects Waugh Thistleton. I've also just come across the recent article on Derek and Tony's house in Hastings Old Town. Tony Howard is Head Gardener over at Fairlight Hall.

PS I Love You...

Here are two of the shop shutters by Ben Eine which are in the High Street. Ben did similar in Hoxton so along with the Dragon Bar there's a little bit of the East End taken up residence in the High Street. Unlike the Banksy graffiti up the road, no one has dared take a spray can to these.

Where's the Muck there's Wave

Just had a read through the office's copy of Creative Review and spotted that Wave have been commissioned to whip up some new posters aimed at trying to deter the amount of dog poo being deposited on the streets. This reminds me of an incident. When I was walking back home a woman had come out of her house and was complaining energetically to anyone who would listen about a bit of dog crap outside her house. To highlight this, she then for some bizarre reason covered the offending canine by-product in bread crumbs. As the area is populated with seagulls permanently on guard on the roof tops, they were soon casting a beady eye on this breadcrumbed coated delicacy, and noisily began circling in on their quarry. At that minute, a dog walker was miffed when their dog made a beeline for this apparently appetising looking bit of street food. Thankfully a decent neighbour intervened and stopped the ongoing chaos by calmly removing said offending item wrapping it in paper and depositing it in the local dog poo bin. Let that be a lesson to you if you ever allow your dog to foul on the streets o' Hastings town - caution: women armed with breadcrumbs are lurking in the doorways.