Online childrenswear concept store The Mini Edit is set to open its first pop-up shop in Knightsbridge today (August 11).
The Mini Edit features contemporary children’s fashion, toys and gifts from brands such as Akid, Anatology, Anna Lou and Fisher Price Retro.
The pop-up space will be open for two weeks from August 11-24 and will play host to a range of special events including baby massage, kids yoga, skateboard workshops and inspirational talks.
www.the-mini-edit.com
@theminiedit
Iain Rennie Hospice at Home service, provided by Rennie Grove Hospice Care, offers essential palliative and end-of-life care based around patients and their families, both day and night.
I know several people whose relatives have been nursed by these exemplary nurses and carers, nursed at home which is the wonderful concept of this charity.
One of their main fundraising arms is the charity shop. The Iain Rennie Hospice shop in Downley High Wycombe is just one of many. Downley is a village with a fantastic sense of community and a great deal going on, and is perched on the top of a hill to the west of High Wycombe, with a five minute walk to the Chiltern woods one side, and a twenty minute walk into town on the other.
Mandy Dowling runs the shop with the help of invaluable volunteers and Mandy’s award winning window dressing is a lesson to us all.
Inside is an Aladdin’s cave of Charity Chic, all donated, so that Mandy is never sure what will be brought in, which is part of the fun of working in a charity shop.
I found amongst many other ‘buys’ a pair of shoes, New Look. £5.00. Just the thing for clubbing. Slightly out of my age range, but only slightly, I say, hopefully.
More appropriate perhaps is the Laura Ashley Jacket for £5.00.
I found two beautiful slender white vases for £2.00 each and photographed them beside a neat black bowl with white dots. Sophisticated with clean lines. Mandy and I put them on top of a glass fronted cabinet that had been sold to someone who is going to upcyle it, in a distressed style. It was only £20 and I can’t believe I missed it.
Candle holders are my ‘thing’. These are often brought into the shop but these I left for someone else. I have no more room, and Dick would leave home if they came through the door. These are new, and priced at £4.00 each.
Christmas is coming and the shop is festive, with most of the decorations and Christmas bric a brac for sale. I found these little ‘friends’.
Smiley Face is £1.00, the glamour-puss bear is £2.00 and the book, The First Snow of Winter by Graham Ralph is a snip at 50p. (lovely book. I read it while I was standing there)
Over the last few weeks, Mandy and her staff have been snaffling up cafetieres for the Words for the Wounded LitFest Day on 18th April. Look at my haul thus far. Priced at £3.00 each.
And yes, there are those magical moments you hear about on Antiques Roadshow. Mandy tells me of a dusty old painting that came into the shop and which could have slipped through their hands. But a bit of a rub (much like the gennii’s lamp) and a name appeared – Victoria Crowe who Mandy googled. It sold on ebay for £500.
To make a donation to Rennie Grove Hospice Care: www.renniegrove.org/donate or to volunteer www.renniegrove.org/volunteer
For further information: www.renniegrove.org/standards
There are so many more Aladdin’s Caves out there, doing good whichever way you look. The customers get a fabulous deal, and hours of fun browsing, and the charity gain much needed money. Contact us with tales of your favourite charity shops/stalls and the buys that have brought you pleasure. Contact margaret@margaret-graham.com
We had fun at the launch of South Korean label Wonderound in Calvert street. The clothes and accessories were beautiful and the Korean street food from restaurant On The Bab was amazing. We soaked in the atmosphere as we drank rosé in the sun.
The brands key aesthetics are clean cuts, minimal and simple design, using neutral hues and pastel tones – easy to wear yet in no way ordinary. Wonderound bridges the gap between London’s thriving fashion scene and South Korea’s innovative, energy textile expertise.
Up and coming label Wonderound will set pitch in Calvert Street for two months only, offering customers a chance to discover the brand in a unique settings. Showcasing the brand’s clothing and accessories, the shop will also act as a platform for collaborations with South Korean artists and designers.
The current collection encompasses the brands key aesthetics of clean cuts, minimal and simple design, using neutral hues and pastel tones – easy to wear yet in no way ordinary. This season’s hero pieces include the Neoprene Cocoon Jumper featuring a drop shoulder cut, half-length sleeves and a ribbed finish and a boxy stripy dress with rolled up 3Ž4 sleeves. Outerwear comprises a regular fit cream beige half trench with shoulder button epaulettes detail and a monochrome baseball bomber.
Wonderound bridges the gap between London’s thriving fashion scene and South Korea’s innovative, energy textile expertise. And as London becomes further more captivated with Koran culture, Wonderound intends on bringing another aspect from the country to add to the prominent Korean food and music scene in the capital.
WONDEROUND
16 Calvert Venue,
London E2 7JP
@wonderound
WHAT: THE LAUNCH OF PIQUADRO’S UK FLAGSHIP LONDON STORE
WHEN: Tuesday 29th April
WHERE: Piquadro, 67 Regents Street
Jack Guinness, Oliver Proudlock, Henry Conway, Piquadro CEO Marco Palmieri
VIPs from the world of fashion and business converged at 67 Regents Street to toast the opening of Piquadro’s London flagship store
Piquadro is an innovative Italian leather house specializing in business and travel items with over 100 stores worldwide
Set over two floors, the beautifully modern store features bespoke interiors designed by Karim Azzabi
The basic concept that inspired Azzabi is the idea of a cocoon defining a unique and original exhibition format in which the elements that make up the internal structure are bands that line the walls like ribs and that also act as display elements
CEO Marco Palmieri hosted the event along with celebrity DJ’s Amber Le Bon and Jack Guinness
Marco Palmieri guided guests around the store whilst conversation flowed over the bespoke Garden Martini cocktail and delicious canapés.
WHO:
Amber Le Bon
Jack Guinness
Oliver Proudlock
Henry Conway
Marco Palmieri – Piquadro CEO
WHAT THEY ATE: A bespoke menu for Piquadro including
Carpaccio of Scottish beef
Truffled goats cheese
Salmon mi qui beach herbs melon and ponzu
Lobster cocktail
Beetroot macaroons
Peeled prawns tossed in chilli and lime zest
WHAT THEY DRANK: The “Garden Martini”
Marks & Spencer to open first-ever charity Kids Shwop Boutique at Marble Arch store
Shwop Boutique to sell the best childrenswear items donated to Shwopping campaign
A host of celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Abbey Clancy, Rochelle Humes, Peaches Geldof, Alex Gerrad and Zoe Ball have donated items that will be sold
All money raised go to charity partner Oxfam as part of their Mother Appeal initiative
Over 1,000 shwopped childrenswear clothing will be on sale over three days
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is set to open its first-ever childrenswear pop-up store when a three-day Kids Shwop Boutique opens to the public this March in aid of Oxfam’s Mother Appeal.
Open from Thursday 6th – Saturday 8th March at the retailer’s Marble Arch store, the one-off secondhand store will sell the best childrenswear items donated to M&S and Oxfam’s sustainable fashion initiative, Shwopping by the UK public and a host of celebrity donations.
All proceeds raised from the Kids Shwop Boutique will go towards Oxfam’s Mother Appeal campaign – which is being supported by M&S – that aims to raise £10 million for projects that help mothers around the world lift themselves and their families out of poverty for good.
Shwoppers will be able to pick up once loved childrenswear items from Britain’s top style icons and celebrity mums including Abbey Clancy, Peaches Geldof, Alex Gerrard, Zoe Ball, Rochelle Humes, Sarah Story, Mel Giedroyc and Shwopping ambassador Joanna Lumley. And, thanks to the UK government, every pound raised for the appeal will be doubled. *
Each celebrity-donated item will include personal words of wisdom stitched into the fabric of the item allowing advice to be passed onto the new owner.
Entry to the Kids Shwop Boutique is free, but visitors will have to shwop – hand over an unwanted item of kids clothing, using old or unused clothes as their ticket to the exclusive sale.
M&S has asked the public to donate childrenswear items to support the Oxfam campaign through its joint Love, Mum initiative. All other items of clothing donated will also go towards the appeal.
The public can show their support by Shwopping items in any M&S store add their words of wisdom on social media mentioning @shwopping and the hashtag #LoveMum.
M&S and Oxfam’s Shwopping collaboration urges shoppers to donate – or ‘shwop’ – an unwanted item of clothing that will go on to be re-sold, re-used or recycled by Oxfam, cutting waste while raising much-needed funds for the charity.
Since its launch in April 2012, Oxfam has received 6.9 million items of clothing thanks to Shwopping, worth £4.5 million for the charity. All money raised by Shwopping is used to support Oxfam’s projects around the world working to alleviate poverty.
Shwop Boutique
Where: Marks & Spencer, Marble Arch, 458 Oxford Street. London. W1C 1AP
When: The Kids Shwop Boutique is open from 10am – 9pm on Thursday 6th March and 8am – 9pm on Friday 7th and Saturday 8h March 2014
Entry: Free with a shwopped item of clothing
For more information on Marks & Spencer and Oxfam’s Kids Shwop Boutique visit www.marksandspencer.com.
WHAT: THE LAUNCH OF THE AMANDA WAKELEY FLAGSHIP STORE, 18 ALBEMARLE STREET
WHEN: Thursday 30th January 2014, 7pm until late
WHERE: 18 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4HR
VIPs from the world of fashion and business converged at 18 Albemarle Street to toast the opening of Amanda Wakeley’s flagship store. Set over two floors, the beautiful townhouse features bespoke interiors personally designed and selected by Amanda herself. Amanda and her CEO Sagra Maceira de Rosen guided their personal guests around the store whilst conversation flowed over bespoke “Eightinis” and delicious canapés courtesy of Mark Hix and Belvedere.
WHO:
Amanda Wakeley (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Hugh Morrison – Amanda Wakeley’s partner and co-owner of Amanda Wakeley
Sagra Maceira de Rosen – CEO of Amanda Wakeley
Elizabeth Hurley (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Tracey Emin CBE
Kelly Hoppen MBE
Darcey Bussell
Tamara Beckwith
Yasmin Mills (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Greg Rusedski
Nicky Haslam
Lisa Butcher (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Sarah-Ann Macklin (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Olivia Inge (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Olivia Grant (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Camilla Rutherford (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Marissa Montgomery (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Tiphaine Chapman (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Sophia Hesketh
Amanda Sheppard (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Francesca Zampi (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Gabriela Peacock (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Katie Redman (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Sofia Wellesley (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Emma Pilkington (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Alessandra Balazs (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Kim Johnson (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Olivia Hunt (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Martha Ward (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Saffron Aldridge (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
Alexandra Shulman
Elizabeth Saltzman
Caroline Rush
Harold Tillman
Heather Kerzner
Mark Hix
Natasha Rufus-Isaacs
Arun Nayar
Kristina Blahnik
Sir Charles and Lady Celia Dunstone
Nick and Nettie Mason
Tim and Malin Jefferies
WHAT THEY ATE: A bespoke menu for Amanda Wakeley by Mark Hix:
WHAT THEY DRANK: A bespoke menu specially-designed for Amanda Wakeley by Mark Hix:
Eightini – Rose petal-infused Belvedere, fresh grapefruit juice, lemon, rhubarb and vanilla syrup with a touch of orange blossom and rhubarb bitters.
Mojito Iced Tea – Belvedere vodka perfectly mixed with Burrow hill apple juice, peppermint tea, mint leaves, apple syrup and finished with soda water.
The Tonnix Grand Crew wine – Amanda’s favourite wine from Mark’s very own brand. The label has been specially created by Tracey Emin, and depicts Amanda’s classic sailing boat Savannah.
WHAT THEY TALKED ABOUT:
Amanda – Amanda’s friends congratulated her on the stunning new Mayfair “home” and toasted her success as a designer for over 20 years – next year is the 25th Anniversary of the brand!
Albemarle Street– tipped to be “The next Mount Street” in London…Amanda joins Paul Smith, Tiffany and Globetrotter with several other big brands rumoured to be moving in later in the year
Strictly Come Dancing vs The X Factor – The age-old dilemma of which Saturday night show is your favourite, and all the tougher for Amanda who dressed both Strictly’s Darcey Bussell and X Factor’s Nicole Scherzinger no less than four times whilst the shows were on.
London Fashion Week – Amanda revealed that she will be showing back on schedule at London Fashion Week again in February after a hiatus of several seasons, and the location would be none other than her 18 Albemarle Street boutique. British Fashion Council CEO Caroline Rush was delighted with the choice of venue.
Above (L-R): Elizabeth Hurley (wearing Amanda Wakeley); Tracey Emin; Darcey Bussell and Amanda Wakeley (wearing Amanda Wakeley); Kelly Hoppen and Amanda Wakeley (wearing Amanda Wakeley); Alexandra Shulman, Amanda Wakeley (wearing Amanda Wakeley) and Elizabeth Hurley (wearing Amanda Wakeley)
The Poetry App hits 100k downloads as Brits burst with love for romantic poems to recite on Valentine’s Day
Tech-loving Casanovas are searching for romance in the lines of poetry, with help from The Poetry App, to woo their loved ones this Valentine’s Day. The app has been receiving 900 downloads a day in the run up to February 14.
With February 14 a few hours away lines from W.H. Auden’s O Tell Me The Truth About Love, are proving the most popular with the app’s 100,000 users.
Great delivery really gets to the heart of poetry and tongue tied romantics can hear Auden’s famous poem read aloud on the app by actors Ralph Fiennes and Julian Glover.
Other popular romantic love lines on the app include ‘What is all this sweet work worth, If thou kiss me not?’ from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Love’s Philosophy and ‘All that’s best of dark and bright, Meet in her aspect and her eyes’ from Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty. Along with a host of others, Brits can be sure to make sure ‘love’ is the word on everyone’s lips.
Actor Dan Stevens, who reads work by Kipling on the app, said: “I cannot think of a better way to fall in love with the majesty of poetry.”
Users can compile their favourite poems into an online anthology to fill their digital bookcase. If they’re suffering from writer’s block, the app allows users to take inspiration from the great poets via collections of words which feature in their poetic masterpieces.
The Poetry App, created by The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation, includes a collection of 115 poems from 16 well-known poets from Keats and Shelley, to Plath and Larkin read on the app by over 30 great British actors and actresses including Bafta winner Dominic West of The Wire and The Hour, Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, Silent Witness’ Emilia Fox and Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons.
Users can read, listen and even write their own poetry on the app. The app is available now for free download on Android, iPad and iPhone devices and features in the Top 40 book category on the iTunes App store.
Contemporary Printmaking: From Andy Warhol to the Emerging Generation
This exhibition by Orion Contemporary combines household names with Orion’s young, emerging stable of artists to promote printmaking as an art form and celebrate the importance of the medium. To quote Andrés Olow Clase, director of Orion Contemporary: ‘From Andy Warhol’s exceptional print of 1974 to works made in 2012, the show explores the diverse vivacity and technical skill of printmaking.’ Following the inaugural exhibition in 2011, this year’s offering includes a variety of work by Lisa Denyer, Alexander Gough, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Max Lowry, Dénes Maróti, Will Martyr, Andy Warhol and Giulia Zaniol.
I am not going to talk about the big names here; nobody needs me to tell them about the likes of Hockney or Hirst. Instead, I would like to focus on some of the less well-known artists.
Alex Gough’s woodblock prints of Levi Mountain are influenced by his Finnish ancestry and are imbued with strong tonal contrasts, reflecting the twilight dancing on the snow, or the midnight hue as the mid-winter landscape melts into long dark nights. Lisa Denyer’s ‘Range’ continues the mountain theme and uses a mystical combination of silver and black to engage the eye. William Martyr’s art deco ‘Sweet Spot’ and ‘’Time Well Spent’ employs bright, vibrant colours to excite the viewer’s imagination. Dénes Maróti pleasantly surprised me by his range: I was startled to discover that the bold, powerful images of repetitive figures were drawn by the same hand as the delicate flower prints. Finally, Giulia Zaniol’s ‘Angels of London’ series uses a highly advanced two-plate technique of soft and hard ground, litho colours and spitbite to create images with deep and varied tonal harmony. The combination of colours and images manages to be both haunting and calming at the same time. Although chromatically I think the finest of the three pieces is ‘Parliament Angels,’ the image of the solitary seraph stood staring across the Thames at the distant ‘Tower Bridge’ will remain with me for some time.
Comtemporary Printmaking opens today at Store Street Gallery. On the evening of 14th March, Gabriel Angel Moreno, will be reading a selection of his poetry written in response to the works in the exhibition, and Giulia Zaniol will lead an informal talk on the art of printmaking on Saturday 17th March at 4pm.
Contemporary Printmaking is at Store Street Gallery, 32 Store Street, WC1E 7BS. Opening Times: 13th March – 17th March, 11am-6pm. 18th March, 11am-4pm. Admission Free.
