American Designers at Home

Ever wondered where Tommy Hillfiger's 'magic happens'...where Ralph Lauren dumps his boots after a long day 'mucking out' the stables on his Colorado ranch; where Donna Karan rinses the sea water off her bikini when, at her holiday home in Parrot Cay? All is revealed in 'American Designers at Home' from Assouline; a coffee table staple.
A sneak peek into a (few) handful(s) of American fashion designers' super styled homes:

Book cover & Ralph Lauren's dining room,

Diane Von Fustenburg's living room,
Mark Badgley and James Mischka's dining room library
Betsy Johnson's dining room
Oscar de la Renta's gaff

Black & Blue

Brave enough?
source

I Love Lamp

I have major lighting envy...not 1, not 2 but 3 spectacular illuminating devices...

Not surprisingly, this is Abigail Ahern's awesome kitchen take by Polly Eltes.

Doggy Style

I know you're all keen to put on your Barbour jackets and peruse the estate with the labradors, this autumnal afternoon, but i think I found that piece you've been searching for, for the east wing drawing room.
From cushions to handags...and generally anything that can be made of, or adorned with, pooch-tastic fabric from The Labrador Company
from here

...living the cheesy dream...

Our dear friend, Joe, is a bigshot barrister in London through the week, but at the weekend, he is now, living his dream...

Joe and his brother have recently started sourcing fantastic, locally produced, cheeses and meats to pursue their dream of being 'purveyors of fine food & drink'.

Two weeks ago, Cannon & Cannon took the plunge and hosted their first market stall at Linton Farmers' Market, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves! As you can see, I was very happy to be asked to provide them with some pricing labels.Tomorrow they will be at Impington Farmers' market near Cambridge till 12.30 but if that's too short notice, go along to the Great Shelford Memorial Hall on the 23rd October to fulfill all your cheesy fantasies...

Sofia Coppola for Louis Vuitton

...quite possibly the most beautiful handbag I ever did see...image source

...to the bar!

In honour of London Cocktail Week, I thought I'd post a little something of what the husband has been getting up to...
As I've mentioned before, here and here, my husband co-owns a couple of popular little bars in Edinburgh, one of which is called Bramble. Their knowledge and skill on 'all-things-booze' has won them a handful of awards & accolades. Most recently, the husband was asked to create a few bespoke drinks for the launch of 'Darnley's View', a gorgeous new handcrafted, London dry gin, by renowned vintners and spirit merchants, the Wemyss family of Fife, Scotland.
Although Wemyss have opted for photographs with a fresh, clean white background for their press release imagery, I wanted to show you these.Bramble is a basement bar in the New Town...it has very little signage, is difficult to find and evokes the speakeasies of the prohibition era. Once you find it you're guaranteed an excellent drink or 3; from a newly invented creation to the classics. You can pretty much tell all that by looking at these brilliant photographs by Peter Urwin.
No prizes for guessing that one of the trends in the cocktail world at present is the ongoing quest to find the prettiest, vintage glasswear possible?!
...anyone else kinda thirsty...?

Zebratastic

There's a fine line when it comes to animal print. For some reason I'm loving all things zebra at the moment but, as with most bold patterns, there's definitely a knack to it.

Stick to subtle pieces with a neutral backdrop...

...or...be confident and layer up bright colours and patterns for a bold, eclectic look...
sources: 1st image, 2nd & 3rd image from the current issue of Lonny, 4th image & 5th image

Concept Sketches

I don't think you can compare a hand drawn, inked concept sketch to a computer aided image when illustrating a design idea. They are just so much prettier to look at.

These are from Tom Dixon's Design Research Studio...you wouldn't really expect anything less from him though would you?

A ski lodge in Scotland

The days are getting shorter, the temperature is getting lower and I am getting increasingly distracted by this cape.

Just as well, we can all look forward to a trip up north to our respective, awesomely designed ski lodges for a couple of weeks of aprés ski advocaats - much like this one designed by Suzy Hoodless, formerly of Wallpaper* magazine.

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced mine...has anyone got one I can borrow?

all images from Suzy Hoodless

I heard a rumour...

...that Edinburgh will soon have its very own Anthropologie...

Behind the scenes...

You may have noticed that I have a fascination with the 'goings on' behind the scenes of film sets, fashion shows, photo shoots, etc etc.
I love these shots, by super talented photographer Ditte Isager, showing the story behind the fantastic imagery she produced for Bloomingdales. I've got to say, I was surprised the bed wasn't just shot in a studio and super-imposed onto a dreamy forest background. It astounds me as to how much work goes into catalogue/advertising imagery, like this, when the majority of people would take a quick glance, lick a finger and flick the page...
I'd love to do some design and styling work for magazine shoots...
image source