The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman ❤ ❤ ❤

This is a long overdue post on the most beautiful book authored by my friend Navaz Batliwalla: The New Garconne, How to be a Modern Gentlewoman. 

I am so proud of Navaz and so very honored to have a selection of my streetstyle images included in this stunningly written and beautifully composed book. It is one of those books that I didn't want to end: I wanted there to be a 100 more interviews with inspirational woman (some of whom I have been fortunate enough to have photographed over the years) and places to source curated essentials.

If you are in need of last minute gift ideas for friends or family, The New Garconne is just gorgeous and looks so pretty on a table or bookshelf (the perfect blush pink cover works so well with white, grey, green, brass....pretty much every pinterest-y popular colour!). If I didn't already own a copy, I would have loved to have received this on Christmas morning.

p.s. Other last minute gift ideas:

HAY Cap Bottle Opener  A gorgeous gold-tone bottle opener which is going in the Santa sack this year. (We recently moved - nightmare* - and I packed all the Champagne stoppers, bottle openers etc away safely....so safely that I now cannot locate them. No doubt they will be unearthed after the next move!). I love the colour and tone of this one.... pretty enough to actually be able to leave on the Christmas table rather than hidden away in the kitchen. For those of you who live in London, La Fromagerie, Marylebone had plenty of stock of these in-store earlier in the week.

Cire Trudon Carmelite candle  One of my favourite candles for the festive season which would make a beautiful gift for someone special, male or female. The fragrance reminds me of travelling in Europe and wandering around ancient stone churches - the smell evokes so many memories (whispers, cold stone, lit candles, the sun streaming through stained glass windows). 

Cultiver Linen I love my sheets and duvet cover from The Linen Works but I was looking for a washed linen cover (not quilted) that I could just throw over the bed which would look effortlessly casual with little effort from me. Enter Australian brand Cultiver Linen and their sublime linen bedcovers. Perfection. This was the only linen throwover bedcover that I could find which did not have seams, it is just one piece of fabric. It puddles beautifully on the floor and gives a relaxed, easy look (I purchased the white). I love it (and the pillowcases), the quality is outstanding. So if you know someone who appreciates gorgeous bed or table linen, a Cultiver gift card would be perfect (they ship worldwide). 

Tartine Bread cookbook. I was lucky enough to attend a dinner party at the home of the cheese buyer for Neal's Yard Dairy recently and alongside an incredible selection of cheese was the most delicious sourdough bread I have ever tasted. I thought it must have come from a secret underground bakery that only those people in the London food industry know about but I was informed it was homemade, and a copy of Tartine Bread was promptly thrust into my hands. I didn't know it was possible to make such amazing sourdough at home (without an Aga, woodfired oven etc etc etc) but apparently it is possible and the answer is in this book! Hence it is going in the Santa sack this year. 

Diptyque 34 Boulevard Saint Germain Room Spray A sophisticated scent that has been a godsend in trying to mask an odd smell which permeates our new home. It is a very strong scent so you only need a couple of sprays (and it lingers for ages). This would be a lovely thank-you gift if you are staying at somebody else's home over the holidays. 

The Laundress laundry liquid  I use The Laundress Signature Detergent only for my bedlinen - the smell is simply beautiful (it evokes memories of freshly washed and folded sheets which have been dried on the backyard line in Australia!). You don't need much so while expensive, the bottle lasts for a long time. A wonderful stocking filler (along with some linen napkins perhaps).


*I am in awe of those people who embrace moving home and do it regularly!

Paris Fashion Week SS 2016....Mayka

Mayka Merino, after Miu Miu, Paris, October 2015.

As summer makes way for autumn and finally, winter, thoughts turn to deeper, darker hues....including lipstick. The lip colour after Miu Miu reminded me of berried ivy (hedera helix) and deep red chrysanthemums.

During summer, I love filling the house with plants (many many plants!) and pretty scented flowers or foliage but when the nights start to draw in I crave candles: scented and beeswax. Lighting a candle seems to lift my spirits.... the beautiful scent + the flickering warmth. Once the leaves on the trees start changing colour, and begin tumbling to the ground, I feel a little sadness: summer is at the end for another year and there will inevitably be long grey months ahead (the cold, I love. The grey, not so much). Once autumn is in full swing though - the trees ablaze with orange, red and yellow, and the air crisp and cool - my spirits will lift again.....and there is Christmas to look forward to as well (and perhaps some snow!).

As I type this I am burning a new favorite candle* which feels just right for now, late summer: Bella Freud Je T'aime Jane scented candle.  If you like the smell of tiger lily flowers, you will love this candle. I think it smells exactly like the flowers....heady, strong, intoxicating - a smell you can readily identify when you walk into a room. Only a few weeks ago someone gave me a bunch of tiger lilies as a thank you gift. I haven't even considered them as a cut flower since I have been going to the New Covent Garden Flower Market each week - too many other beautiful, new-to-me flowers to choose from. But those lilies, and this candle, have reignited my love for them. And the best thing about the candle? No yellow lily pollen stains to deal with! This particular candle has a strong throw, even unlit. So if you get headaches from tiger lily flowers (or any strong floral scent), this might not be the right candle for you.

*I absolutely love scented candles and whenever I receive a gift voucher, or am asked what I would like for a present, candles are at the top of my list!

Weekend Life.....Spring Inspiration (#1)

A little inspiration for the beginning of Spring, the most wonderful time of year to witness the emergence of colour in gardens and parks after the long winter. Cherry blossoms, wattle (mimosa), camellia, forsythia, hellebores, winter jasmine, trees revealing their new season foliage....so much beauty to take in.

I was commenting to one of the chaps at the Covent Garden Flower market that the flower business is rather like fashion: it moves so fast (too fast) and flowers which typically emerge in the garden in late spring have been in the markets for a couple of months (and some before Christmas). 

Peony Lim + Chanel Couture

Beautiful Peony Lim+ Chanel Couture Collaboration @ Wild At Heart Florist, Pimlico, Spring 2015.

Some spring floral inspiration via Peony Lim and her collaboration with Chanel last Spring. We shot it on a cold, wet windy day but the beautiful spring blooms and the gorgeous couture (so incredible to touch and photograph these special gowns) made up for the grey.

Weekend Life....First Day of Spring

Spring 

Time to dig out the pruning shears for my rosemary's yearly haircut and contemplate what to plant in my window boxes (probably lavender like last year). Spring...such a lovely (but busy) time of year. 

Weekend Life....New Covent Garden Flower Market (No. 1 - The Toad Lily)

Tricyrtis (Toad Lily) from New Covent Garden Flower Market, late summer 2015.

In May 2015 I began visiting the New Covent Garden Flower Market on a weekly basis to buy fresh flowers for my home...and it has now become the highlight of my week (although I do rather dread the early morning start!). While I absolutely love to photograph flowers (any kind of berry, flower, or pretty fruit has me pulling out the camera), I have never had fresh flowers at home on a regular basis excepting the odd bunch gifted to me, or a bunch or two a year picked up from Waitrose or Sainsbury's with the grocery shopping (always with one type of flower, never the mixed bunches!). 

I had heard about the flower market a couple of years ago (my good friend Peony Lim had held a Christmas drinks party and had purchased her beautiful foliage and flowers from the market) but I thought it was only really for large purchases, not just one or two bunches. Plus I had no idea if I had to bargain (which I loathe) or whether the price was fixed, whether you needed some sort of pass to go in etc etc. So I kind of just shelved the idea of going, thinking it would just be all too tricky. However, after I photographed Peony for her Chanel collaboration in February last year at the exquisite Wild At Heart florist in Pimlico, I was determined to go at least once to the market.

My first visit was a little overwhelming: It started off with me wandering around the back of the fruit and vegetable market (not a great place to be at 6:30am) after asking two security guards if they knew where the flower market was (they weren't sure!). Long story short, I ended up catching a lift with a very kind lady (together with another two ladies who were equally lost!)* who was on her way to the market to replace a plant which had, in her words "keeled over and died" earlier in the week. Once there, I had no real idea what I was doing so I thought I would write some tips which might help any non-florists keen on buying flowers from the market. 

• The Flower Market is the market closest to Vauxhall train/bus station - a few minutes walk. Don't go to the fruit and veg market entrance which is more towards the Battersea Power Station end of Nine Elms, which is what I did on my first visit.  I take the bus each week but you can also drive (there is a £5 fee for car access) but no charge if you arrive on foot. 

• If you are on foot, take a carry bag/s to carry your flowers and plants purchases in (the vendors won't have any). I have a long cardboard box which one of the vendors gave me (I am now rather attached to it!) and take it with me each week to carry my flowers in so they don't crush and I don't poke anybody's eye out on the way home on the bus! If you scoot around outside the market, there are usually loads of boxes to be had if you aren't offered one.

• Flowers are usually sold only in bunches not by the stem (there are some exceptions like orchids). Most of the flowers I have purchased have had 10 stems in the bunch although I was looking at ranunculus a few weeks before Christmas and they were in bunches of 50 stems (although some vendors do sell them in bunches of 10 stems). And this is where I find it challenging especially if you are adhering to a budget: if you are after a mixed vase of blooms, you would need to purchase a number of bunches and that would soon add up! I haven't found a solution to this so would suggest  a) teaming up with 2 or 3 friends so you each end up with a few flowers of each variety; b) supplementing your flower market blooms with foraged material from your own garden or parents/friends/neighbours (always ask first!); or c) buying a few additional individual blooms from a local florist to mix things up.  

• Prices. I was so nervous the first week that the only thing I purchased was one bunch of eucalyptus (I think it was £2.70) from Porters Foliage (I visit Porters each week and they are awesome!) and two plants. I kind of just wandered in a daze looking at all the amazing flowers (spring is a glorious time to visit the markets) and couldn't make any decisions (a recurring theme). There are no prices of any of the flowers so you need to ask the chaps who work on each stall the price. Prices are excluding VAT so you will need to add 20% on to the prices they quote. Prices will vary according to season (I am pretty sure they went up during the Christmas period) and also from vendor to vendor (including within the same stall!) . My go-to-guys each week are Luke at Zest Flowers and any of the hardworking chaps at Porters Foliage - I always feel like I am getting a fair price from them. There is no bargaining - the price is the price - although obviously if you are doing your own wedding flowers or an event, and are buying a load of flowers there may be room to negotiate. I always pay with cash as some of the vendors have a minimum spend on EFTPOS (£20 or more). 

• I knew so little about flowers when I started at the market (I didn't even know that you must re-cut the stems if flowers have been out of water for any length of time until one of the lovely florists at Wild At Heart pointed this out to me!) and still know so little but at least I am learning (google has been enormously helpful as have a couple of books I have acquired - more on them in a later post). 

• In terms of "arranging" the flowers, I totally suck (up until May my method was to unwrap the flowers and plonk them into a vase with flower food). Probably I should do a course or something but for the moment I am going with the trial and error method. So it is mostly flower wrangling rather than arranging unfortunately. I have so much respect for florists - they do magical, wonderful things with flowers.

*And no Mum and Dad, I don't make a habit of getting into cars with strangers. This was a one-off caused by desperation of walking up and down Nine Elms! 

These little flowers - the oddly named Toad Lily - reminded me of tiny little orchids (and starfish!) when I spotted them at Zest one week at the end of summer. I should have photographed them a few days later as almost all of the little buds burst open into flower and looked much prettier. Always learning!