Issue 3 July

ISSUE 03 JULY 2012

Plus

SUMMER BEAUTY SPECIAL HOW TO BEAT BEACH HAIR WHO ARE THE CAPITAL’S MOST FASHIONABLE TWEETERS?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A TOP MODEL

needs a new bikini body?

JAIME WINSTONE

strikes a pose in Ibiza

EVA

channels Marilyn on the Riviera Cover_July_HK.indd 1

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YOU’LL TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF FOR THE SACOOR BROTHERS.

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Contents J U LY 2 012 Left: model Olivia Inge; Top right: a private island in Cambodia; Below right: Jaime Winstone Below left: sun hat, £15, River Island; sunglasses, £275, Thierry Lasry

Regulars 7

AMUSE REVIEWS All the capital’s finest fashion, art, film, music, restaurants, books and shows

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OBJECT OF DESIRE Who can resist a Manolo shoe?

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THE FAST FASHION FIX The man who’s making the fur fly at Hockley

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MY TOP SHOP How fashion saved Portia Freeman from going off the rails

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SADIE & IRIS Our mother and daughter columnists face up to the future

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A MAN ABOUT TOWN Nick Cox and a hair-raising adventure

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UNNATURAL BEAUTY Bethan Cole’s florid favourites

Fashion & Beauty 62

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INTERIORS • Sarah Walter’s African inspirations • News: al fresco and fabulous

SHOPPING Dazzling sunglasses

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FOOD • News: sparkling sandwiches and eating for the Olympics • The 15-minute meal by Florence Knight

TRENDS Prints: animal magic Colour: a more mellow yellow Picnic: a chic look at the great outdoors Sightseeing: the trappings of a tourist

THIS MONTH’S MUSE Carolina Herrera on the Queen

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THE NEW-LOOK TWEETERS Why Twitter’s turned trendy

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FOR EVA A ND EVER From Central European forests to Chelsea via Paris couture, Eva Herzigova’s life reads like a fairy tale

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HOW TO TAME YOUR DRAGON The domestic side of Deborah Meaden

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A SECOND SKIN Skunk Anansie’s lead singer has a new shot at fame

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SEXY BEAST Jaime Winstone strikes a pose in Spain

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FIT FOR THE CATWALK Olivia Inge takes on her toughest challenge yet

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THE SOBER TRUTH The highs and lows of an alcoholic

Columnists

TRAVEL • News: Fabergé in New York and disco in Montenegro • Corfu without the controversy • Barefoot luxury in Mozambique

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Features

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BEAUTY News: beach-ready skin Pastels: the new make-up Hair: how to survive the summer in style

On the cover Eva Herzigova wears 18-carat white-gold Chopard necklace with diamonds; and 18-carat white-gold Chopard earrings with diamonds

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EDITOR’S

letter

HOLLY SILIUS

Make-up artist, hairstylist and creator of Shimmer Twins Treasure Lashes, Holly knows how to make a woman look overthe-top and still gorgeous, as she proves in the Jaime Winstone fashion story in this month’s aMUSE. She’s worked for iD, the Royal Opera House and The Pet Shop Boys, which is a trio not many could boast.

Who is your muse? Harris Glenn Milstead, also known as Divine, and Leigh Bowery.

LIZ MENDEZ

Art director, party promoter, stylist, vintage connoisseur... Liz travels the world on the hunt for rare fashion finds, or beautiful venues. She styled the Jaime Winstone shoot and decked the actor’s arms with items from her own new vintage jewellery range.

Who is your muse? Roisin Murphy matches designer and vintage in an inspirational way.

When I saw her at the MTV awards in Barcelona in a Pucci hooded jumpsuit, I was won over.

CHRIS SULLIVAN

Chris Sullivan began writing for The Face in 1980. He then launched and ran the infamous Wag Club in Soho from ‘83, was GQ Style Editor from ‘97 to 2000 and in 2001 penned the internationally successful book Punk. He has contributed features to, among many others, Esquire and The Telegraph. Faber and Faber will publish his next book, We Can Be Heroes, in October.

Who is your muse? The post-war Italian writer Alberto Moravia.

A

s I write this, the rain is drumming down on the roof of aMUSE towers in Covent Garden and it feels like a rather nasty January and not flaming June. It’s at times like these that even that most universal of pick-me-ups, the blow-dry (non-fattening, flattering and vaguely affordable), doesn’t work. What will do the trick is this issue of the magazine, which we’ve packed with all the most summery of subjects.

We shot our cover star, Eva Herzigova, flaunting some pretty show-stopping diamonds on the French Riviera. Hot young actress Jaime Winstone dazzles in vintage in Ibiza.

And to complete our trio of summer beauties, model Olivia Inge takes the challenge of dropping a dress size to fit back into her sample-sized jeans in just four weeks. We have the 38 most flattering sunglasses on the market and the ultimate solutions for beach hair. While in our travel section we suggest some appropriate places to show them off. Personally, the idea of a private island off Mozambique appeals quite a lot.

And so, here is your new aMUSE. I should point out that each day we’ve handed the magazine out so far, the sun has shone. Not that I’m necessarily suggesting a connection. But it does make you think, doesn’t it?

Happy reading

Sasha Slater sasha@amusemagazine.co.uk

Contributors

STEFAN SIELER

Stefan is one of the country’s most promising fashion photographers, who counts Rankin as a fan. He specialises in creating images with a cinematic feel, full of vibrancy and colour, and his shots of Jaime Winstone in Ibiza for aMUSE are ample demonstration of his talents.

Who is your muse?

David Bowie. He is legendary and epitomises fashion, style and talent: Ziggy Stardust, Space Oddity, Hunky Dory… need I say more?

SARAH WALTER

Sarah left Central Saint Martin’s on the same day as US Vogue editor Anna Wintour and became one of the youngest ever fashion editors at British Vogue. She honed her commercial skills at New Look and now runs online store stylepassport.com. For aMUSE, she’s opened the doors to her light-filled house in Marble Arch.

Who is your muse? ‘My daughters: Edie, who is 14 and a fashionista of note, and Georgia, 12, an extraordinary cook and comedian.’

Sasha Slater Editor sasha@amusemagazine.co.uk Hicham Kasbi Art Director hicham@amusemagazine.co.uk Stephanie Hirschmiller Deputy Editor stephanie@amusemagazine.co.uk Polly Glass Features Writer polly@amusemagazine.co.uk Arabella Preston Beauty Editor arabella@amusemagazine.co.uk Fran Mullin Junior Fashion Editor fran@amusemagazine.co.uk Contributors: Caroline Boucher, Bethan Cole, Nick Cox, Sadie Frost, Lisa Grainger, Lydia Slater, Victoria Moore, Lorelei Marfil, Valentina Tiurbini, Florence Knight, Julia Chadwick, Henrietta Roussoulis, Chris Sims, Natalie Silverton, Sara Austin, Beatrice Aidin, Erika de la Barquera, Dieter Brandenburg 0207 866 8102 @amuse_mag facebook.com/amusemagazine Stephen Murphy Publisher stephen@amusemagazine.co.uk Christian Price Commercial Director christian@amusemagazine.co.uk Advertising Consultant: Debra Davies 0207 866 8101 Printer BGP Distribution: Emblem Group Colour Management: David Ladkin

OLIVIA INGE

Olivia has modelled for some of the biggest names in fashion.

She also helped her sister set up online beauty emporium cultbeauty.co.uk and acts as brand ambassador for the site while also modelling, writing and, for the last month, putting her body through a punishing fitness schedule for aMUSE. Who is your muse? A Turkish guy I recently met. He was sleeping rough in a park, but then built his own business and and is now having a statue of himself erected in that park.

aMuse Magazine is published by aMuse Media, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ. Company number: 07189146. aMuse Media cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited articles and images. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters and emails.

The material in aMuse Magazine is subject to copyright. All rights reserved.

The paper in this magazine originates from timber that is sourced from sustainable forests, responsibly managed to strict environmental, social, and economic standards. The manufacturing mills have both FSC & PEFC certification, and also ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation.

When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it

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Reviews aMUSE

... FASHION... ART... FILM... MUSIC... RESTAURANTS... BARS... BOOKS... SHOWS ...

Compiled by POLLY GLASS

MISSONI SS12

HOW TO BOHO

Ready to embody the free-spirited boho look this summer, without turning into a completely drippy, cheesecloth hippy?

Missoni’s SS12 collection might be just the ticket – now available in its London store. It proves that an edgy asymetric cut works surprisingly well in mustard when teamed with a funky Missoni print.

Missoni, 193 Sloane Street and 138 Bond Street, missoni.com AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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TRUTH OR DARE?

Macy’s across the pond may have got Madonna and Lourdes’ tween line, Material Girl, but it’s the queen of pop’s new Truth or Dare shoe line that we’re really excited about. It’s landing in Selfridges Shoe Galleries on 16th July – the day before Madge herself touches down in Hyde Park for the London leg of her MDNA tour. Arianne Phillips, stylist behind the Jean Paul Gaultier, Prada and Alexander Wang costumes she’s sporting on stage, is also creative consultant for the brand. She says “the first thing I did was to remind her of all the shoes she wore over the years and we took the styles that we can’t live without.”

With 23 looks in total (we love the Feline mary-jane, above, and the Michonski boot, right), we’re talking everything from sensible brogues to vertiginously heeled boots – but we don’t care if they cripple us: we’re wearing them anyway. SH Exclusive to Selfridges 16 July – 1 September, £80-£480, Selfridges.com

BATTLE OF THE BAGS

FRENCH FANCY Wish you could travel in effortless ‘50s style

and write your holiday diary, à la Audrey Hepburn?

Well, thanks to the lovely people at ST Dupont, you can. To celebrate its 140th birthday, the French purveyor of swish accessories has launched two new collections, inspired by Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, another Dupont fan. We love this classic Riviera-style bag.

Available at Harrods and stonemarketing.com

TAKE THE COACH Take a bag from heritage New York brand

Coach, add vibrant art from London-born painter James Nares, put the resulting creations in Liberty and you have yourself one mouthwatering accessories prospect.

JAMES NARES WITH COACH, £725, liberty.co.uk

A VERY FASHIONABLE FRUIT

Isak Andic, owner of Mango, with Kate Moss

aMuse shipped out to Barcelona for the fourth annual Mango Fashion Awards, judged by campaign face Kate Moss, designer Carolina Herrera and editor-at-large of US Harper’s Bazaar, Derek Blasberg. At the ceremony, in the city’s stunning MNAC museum, we caught up with the winner, Thai designer Wisharawish Akarasantisook, who scooped the gigantic £300,000 prize. He told us that his collection – featuring pleats, woven leather and big cats – was influenced by losing his father and the idea of reincarnation, with the pleats representing birth, death and humanity: “Sometimes, things are hidden and sometimes, they’re revealed,” he said cryptically. Inspired by the Belle Epoque Parisian designer Paul Poiret, he adores Comme des Garçons and would love to dress Tilda Swinton. We suspect he probably will. The announcement of the winner preceded a spectacular dinner, where guests ate and drank beneath chandeliers slung from the venue’s stunning dome and were serenaded by an orchestra in the gallery above their heads. And, having told us earlier that she had “options” in terms of what to wear that evening, Moss stole the show in a black tuxedo. We love a Spanish shindig. Where else can you get away with having a cheeky smoke in the middle of a national museum? SH AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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LONDON’S MOST STYLISH SNEAKERS

Mahiki cocktails, pirates, Alexa Chung and a giant cake in the shape of a sneaker – shoe brand Superga certainly knows how to throw a party. The bash honoured the launch of the House of Holland per Superga collection; a blend of funky HOH prints and a candy-coloured palette referencing his SS12 Pastel Punks collection. Wearing a palm tree-print suit by Moschino, Henry Holland certainly entered into the spirit of things.

“I wanted it to feel very ‘us’,” he said of the collection. “We’ve already done SS13 and, going forward, it’s going to relate to the runway a lot more.” He also dug out his iPhone to show us the fashion film he directed for the collection, where the shoes all dance by themselves to M.I.A’s ‘Sunshowers’. There’s also talk of a new luxury HOH shoe line in the pipeline… Watch this space. SH HOH per Superga, £55-£70, available at Office, asos.com and superga.co.uk

be utterly baffling – there are so many options to go for. This is something that Lux Fix, a fashion destination, has recognised. So it has invented its own personal shopper, Miss LF. She aims to be your virtual stylist, weeding out what won’t suit you and coming up with a sensible edit of the best on the site. But does Miss LF really cut the mustard? We sent actress, blogger and fixture on all the best-dressed lists, Olivia Grant, to find out. aMUSE: So, Olivia, how long did Miss LF take to work her magic?

Olivia: Less time than it takes to drink a coffee. aMUSE: Was she a success?

Olivia: She came up with a beautiful bracelet from Lara Bohinc (above) – it’s bold and gold, but can be worn during the day without blinding anyone. aMUSE: What’s the worst gift you’ve ever had?

Olivia: An Hermés silk pocket square, which assumed that I wore very smart blazers. I don’t. aMUSE: What’s on your wish list?

Olivia: One of those latticed Prada bags in patent nude.

From £30-£500, lux-fix.com

GETTING TO THE POINTE

Nothing’s more important to a ballerina than her feet, or her shoes. We caught up with Romany Pajdak (below right), 26, First Artist at The Royal Ballet, for the low-down on fairytale costumes, painful footwear and sheepskin slippers...

What do you look for in your shoes?

Being in pointe shoes all day can leave your feet feeling pretty raw, so comfort and support are top of the list. My feet love my trainers but I don’t, so it’s a tug of war between vanity and practicality.

What’s your favourite ballet costume?

I danced the role of Princess Louise in Mayerling and had glorious outfits: a V-neck gown with a layered skirt decorated with red silk ribbons; and a lady’s hunting outfit, complete with fur hat. They were designed in 1978 by Nicholas Georgiadis who worked very closely with the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan on the ballets.

And the worst?

The most uncomfortable shoes I’ve had to wear were for being a bridesmaid in Romeo and Juliet.

I walked down to the stage in comfy sheepskin slippers carrying the horrid things – there were a

couple of close calls when I almost forgot to change.

What inspired you to become a ballerina?

On 13th May 1995, I was prancing around the living room, watching Viviana Durante dance Aurora in Anthony Dowell’s production of The Sleeping Beauty for The Royal Ballet. She still inspires me as the most intelligent, gracious and beautiful artist.

What’s your personal style?

I like clean lines and unusual detail. A Liberty scarf can dress any outfit up and a good pair of jeans is essential. For shoes, the Aurora (above right) from the Cocorose Royal Ballet capsule collection is divine. It’s elaborate, so I don’t feel under-dressed not wearing heels, and it hints at the enchantment of pointe shoes without the painful reality.

Cocorose London Exclusive Royal Ballet Collection, £50, cocoroselondon.com roh.org.uk

DRESS BY JACQUES AZAGURY. PHOTOGRAPHED ON LOCATION AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN

XXXX SFDFAGFDH G

SOLVING THE PRESENT DILEMMA Choosing from a luxury website can

Best foot forward: Romany Pajdak

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Reveal skin’s inner light

JELLY AQUARYSTA A revolution in anti-ageing skincare Voted the no.1 premium skincare product in Japan* IT’S LIKE NOTHING YOU’VE TRIED BEFORE This extraordinary transparent, naturally red jelly quickly absorbs into the skin to deliver powerful anti-ageing ingredients and target the visible signs of ageing.

PATENTED JAPANESE TECHNOLOGY ** Jelly Aquarysta harnesses the power of Astaxanthin, a most powerful repairing and protective natural antioxidant, combined with collagen and ceramide. The smallest micro-particle ever used in a skincare product delivers highly concentrated active ingredients deep into skin’s cells.

VISIBLE RESULTS Skin’s regenerating activity is revived, leaving it smooth and more luminous.† Signs of ageing are diminished, skin is firmer, brighter and more even. Reveal your skin’s inner light.

After just 28 days of use, skin appears more luminous for 95% of women tested.‡ Available at Selfridges www.astalift.co.uk

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Magazine. **Registered patents. †Study carried out in France. Self-evaluation by 100 women. tests conducted by the Dermscan laboratory on 22 volunteers

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AMUSE ART /

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GOOD IMPRESSIONS

Sometimes you just want to look at good, old-fashioned, pretty paintings – easy on the eye and uplifting. These beguiling Impressionist works from 19th-century French masters, including Monet, Degas and Pissarro, at the Royal Academy should be just the ticket. Country landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, marine vistas... sheer, arty indulgence.

FROM PARIS: A Taste for Impressionism, 7th July-23rd September, Royal Academy of Arts, royalacademy.org.uk

AT HOME WITH FRANCIS BACON

KISS KISS BANG BANG To mark the 50th anniversary of the super-spy on the big screen, see the Barbican transformed into a 007 haven, with clothes, cars, gadgets, guns and behind-the-scenes footage of Bond, James Bond, in all his incarnations.

DESIGNING 007, The Barbican, 6th July-5th September, barbican.org.uk

© DAVID BAILEY

EDavid A SBailey T- EisND BOY known as the photographer of ‘60s

sensation Jean Shrimpton and every other beauty since, but he also turned his lens on a rather less glamorous London. Gaze at this series of images, depicting the changing landscape of Bailey’s East End throughout the last half-century. It’s amazing how much a town can change in 50 years.

DAVID BAILEY’S EAST END, 6th July-5th August, Compressor House, createlondon.org

PERFECT MATCHES

Giles Deacon and Jeremy Deller; Mary Katrantzou and Mark Titchner, Stephen Jones and Cerith Wyn Evans... Just what happens when a fashion designer and an artist get together? The British Fashion Council has the answer with Britain Creates, launching at the V&A and then morphing into an installation in Selfridges’ windows. We caught up with milliner Stephen Jones (just before he left for Paris to work with Dior new boy Raf Symons on this month’s haute couture show). Stephen collaborated with artist Cerith Wyn Evans on Celestial Bonnet – part sculpture, part hat – consisting of five glowing rings orbiting around a central head-band. “It’s going to be suspended,” he explained, “you can go and stand underneath it so it actually looks as if you’re wearing it. We wanted it to look ethereal and gorgeous and make the ‘wearer’ look gorgeous as well – illuminated by this fantastic halo!” The duo were inspired by the Olympic rings and the inclusiveness of The Games. But is it fashion or is it art? “To Cerith, art is fashion and to me, fashion is art.” Nicely put, Mr Jones. SH BRITIAN CREATES 2012: Fashion + Art Collusion, a collaboration between the British Fashion Council and the V&A, runs from 6th-29th July 2012 and at Selfridges 30th July-19th August, selfridges.com.

© STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE, WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, USA, 1994.2, CELESTIAL BONNET BY STEPHEN JONES AND CERITH WYN EVANS, © 1962 DANJAQ, LLC AND UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

You may be thinking that someone like Francis Bacon might not offer the kind of material you want to see in your kitchen/living room/ bedroom on a daily basis. Harrowing screams and morphed faces – however well-executed – might not seem like the obvious match with your morning americano. And nor was the artist known for his gentle domestic habits.

But get ready for a pleasant surprise: in honour of the 20th anniversary of the painter’s death, the estate of Francis Bacon has developed a rather cool online lifestyle shop. Elegant black espresso cups and cashmere throws, as well as T-shirts, cushions and trays based on his inimitable paintings, all feature in this collection. francis-bacon.com

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S E O H S E H T R A E W RULE THE RLD. WO tm

Hello beautiful shoes. Goodbye fashion-victim feet.

Our exclusive new capsule collection of handcrafted luxury leather ballerinas and sneakers is built with cush, super-ergonomic BIOMIMETIX technology, giving high-heel addicts a more empowering option. fitflop.com

TM

AMUSE

film

© 2012 WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT INC AND LEGENDARY PICTURES FUNDING LLC

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THE BATTY ONE

It’s been eight years since Batman (Christian Bale) took the flak for Two Face’s crimes. Branded an enemy by the city he just wants to protect, he now faces the prospect of standing up to all-round baddie Bane (Brit hardman Tom Hardy). But can he do it without the inhabitants of Gotham turning on him and, more to the point, how will Anne Hathaway measure up as a rubber-clad Catwoman (above)? Holy heart failure, Batman!

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, out 20th July, thedarkknightrises.com

NEW ACTION HEROES

JAIMIE TRUEBLOOD. © 2012 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

THE WEB WONDER

It’s farewell, Tobey Maguire, and hello, Andy Garfield, in this new Spiderman flick.

Making a welcome return to the screen, we also have Emma Stone – fresh from conquering everything from Superbad to The Help. We can’t wait to see her take on Gwen Stacy (in love with Peter Parker before Mary Jane Watson arrived on the scene).

Comic-book fun.

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, out 3rd July, theamazingspiderman.com

music

L O V ING L I A NNE Don’t be fooled by this one – beyond the sweet melodies and whimsical lyrics (displayed in the eponymous single) lies a wealth of musical intrigue. Bluesy notes, R’n’B beats and spaced-out passages make for a varied sonic experience, bound together by Lianne la Havas’s exquisite vocal delivery. Sweet but not sugar-coated; a confident debut.

IS YOUR LOVE BIG ENOUGH? out on 9th July

STRAWBERRY LOVE

Sexual awakening, sibling rivalry and a beautiful English summer countryside setting (in strawberry fields, unsurprisingly) make this arty flick a sumptuous, satisfying affair – and a potent testament to the power of love. From upand-coming director Frances Lea – she started life as a painter – this is the perfect counterpart to all the blockbuster action.

Oh, and it features a lovely performance from In Bruges star, Anna Madeley.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS, out 4th July, sodapictures.com

NORTHERN FIRE

It’s interesting how an angular, wordy band like Maximo Park manages to produce such infectious, dance-along stuff. With ‘The National Health’, the Geordie post-punk outfit blends impassioned lyrics (it doesn’t take a genius to deduce the general subject matter from the title) with rousing rock’n’roll. Pensive, yet incendiary – play at a house party, or when you need a tuneful kick-start.

THE NATIONAL HEALTH, out now

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STYLE YOU CAN WEAR ANYWHERE

WWW.KIKI.CO.UK 12 Symons Street, Sloane Square, London SW3 2TJ. Tel: 020 7730 3323 Email: info@kiki.co.uk

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PARK LANE PRINCESS

Frances Osborne is the bestselling author of biographies The Bolter and Lilla’s Feast. Her latest book – and first novel – is Park Lane.

HOLIDAY READS EYE CANDY

Think your wildest wedding fantasies are pretty out there? Think again.

This selection of lavish wedding photography (above), from parties designed by Ziad Raphael Nassar for the most demanding Arab bridezilla princesses, would boggle even Kate Middleton’s mind. Fountains, divans, walls of roses... it’s a modern-day Aladdin’s cave and perfect for flicking through on a sun lounger.

ONCE WEDDINGS, out in July, £450, Assouline at assouline.com

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

What’s your book about?

Park Lane is the story of two very different young women living on Park Lane over the First World War, whose lives become set on a collision course. It takes them from suffragette violence through the war and out into the unrecognisable world beyond.

Why did you choose that era to write about?

When I was researching The Bolter, the biography of one of my great-grandmothers, I became fascinated by the huge changes to women’s lives over that period: they transformed; socially, through the opportunities that opened up during the war; politically, as they campaigned for the vote; and sexually, as wartime heightened emotions.

GUILTY PLEASURE

Based on her sparkling, summery debut, Nicola Doherty deserves to join the bestsellers of the chick-lit world. Get sucked into the London life of Alice Roberts, which is going terribly wrong (horrible boss, stalling career, dumped by text...) until she’s sent to a villa in Sicily to edit the autobiography of a Hollywood hottie. Glamour, sea, sun, emotional turmoil... optimum beach reading.

THE OUT OF OFFICE GIRL, out 5th July, £6.99, Headline

What do you find hardest about writing a novel?

Reminding myself that the characters aren’t real. You can plan what they do in advance but, often, when you have reached a turning point in the novel, they have developed to such a stage that they do something quite different from what you expected.

What’s the best part?

Being able to construct a story that takes the characters through the great (real) dramas of the day.

What’s your next project?

I am working on a novel set fifty years earlier, when a newly-rich family first arrives in the house in Park Lane. It is inspired by the true story of the family of the great railway builder, Thomas Brassey.

Park Lane is published by Virago, £14.99

We’re sometimes at a bit of a loss when it comes to meditation, but when it’s combined with the promise of weight loss, too, our ears prick up. The Headspace Diet from meditation guru Andy Puddicombe, guides you into a calm space using clear, engaging prose that will help you manage your relationship with food in a mindful, relaxed way.

THE HEADSPACE DIET, out now, £12.99, Hodder & Stoughton 16 | AMUSE

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Set in 1960s Chelsea, power struggles, class conflict and tremendous sexual tension all swill around in hefty doses in the first UK revival of the Matthew Bourne ballet, Play Without Words, which premiered at the National Theatre in 2002. An exciting return to London theatreland for the choreographer of the all-male version of Swan Lake.

PLAY WITHOUT WORDS, Sadlers Wells, 12th July-5th August, sadlerswells.com

A BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER

Curly-haired, long-faced wonder Steven Mangan (Green Wing, Episodes) stars in this sassy new play from Joe Penhall (he adapted Cormac McCarthy’s The Road for the big screen). Follow Ed and Lisa, preparing for their new baby. A exciting prospect from one of Britain’s sharpest playwrights.

BIRTHDAY, Royal Court Theatre, until 4th August, royalcourttheatre.com

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAY BROOKS

MADE IN CHELSEA

THE MUSIC OF FLOWERS

SUMMER LOVING Latitude is a festival even the least enthusiastic campers will want to catch.

As arts curator of the festival, Tania Harrison, says, the Southwold event is a “smorgasbord of art and culture, with the bonus of a lake and gondolas... a mix of alcohol and headiness.” As well as acts including Janelle Monae, Laura Marling and Lana Del Rey, you’ll be able to sample funny literary readings, art shows, contemporary dance and debate, along with many other tricks and surprises – all in pretty, quirky surroundings. “There’s something new to discover each year,” says Harrison. “This year, there’s a Faraway

Forest, which will be differently themed each day: Pagan on Friday, Revolution on Saturday and Country Fayre on Sunday.”

Solo performer Bryony Kimmings, 31 (above), is one of the mainstays of the 2012 festival and will be running a club night in the Literary Salon.

What do you like most about Latitude?

The Cabaret Tent is going to be my home for the weekend; lazing backstage watching the world go by, being right up close at a new show that I haven’t seen before.

Tell us about your show…

The Literary Salon is a chic little 100-capacity hideaway. I am doing Art Crush there, so I

We love Kew Gardens anyway – all those lovely leaves – but, combined with a sensational showcase of live music, we might just have the perfect summer day out. It’s a retro line-up, with M People, Status Quo and Chic promising an excellent excuse for nostalgic grooving. And for the optimum combination of old-fashioned decadence and comic piano musings (yes it’s an odd-sounding match, but stay with us...), catch 13-piece ‘40s/’50s Hollywood-style orchestra Pink Martini, busting some grooves with Tim Minchin.

KEW THE MUSIC, Kew Botanical Gardens, 3rd8th July, kew.org/music

will invite all the cabaret, comedy, music and dance acts I have a crush on to come and show how amazing they are. This is spliced with footage of ‘80s toy commercials and anime cartoons. We’ll have really sickly-sweet cheesy DJ sets, from Korean pop to Prefab Sprout, and stupid games.

Summer wardrobe must-haves?

I am obsessed with mismatching ghastly jungle prints: huge floral designs jarring with each other from underneath a wide-brimmed hat. I’m also a sucker for socks and high heels.

Ingredients for the perfect summer day?

Blanket. Shade. My boyfriend. No crowds.

A banana ice cream in a waffle cone, with chocolate sauce and nuts.

Bryony will be taking over the Latitude Literary Salon on Friday 12th July, from 10pm latitudefestival.co.uk

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www.larabohinc.com

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desire THE MANOLO SHOE Some of us could tell just by looking at it that this is a Manolo Blahnik shoe: no-one sculpts a heel quite like he does, or knows exactly where to cut away at the front and side to reveal a hint of toe cleavage or instep. And no-one else has quite his mastery in creating a stiletto that’s not just beautiful, but comfortable; I could hike up Snowdon in my Manolos. The colour combination of the Superba, shouldn’t work – and wouldn’t in anyone else’s hands, but here, it’s perfection. And the beauty of this shoe is that I guarantee it is quite unlike any other you already own – and therefore exceptionally easy to justify buying. A pair of these will make you smile and will make you look sexy: you can’t really ask more of a shoe.

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AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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Photographer: Beate Hansen; Š 2010. Model: Charlbi. Dress by Karma Highway

Embrace Nature. Choose Cotton. www.discovercottonusa.com BS0873 Muse 300x220mm (30 April 2012) 1.indd 1

13/4/12 16:42:49

luxury fur pieces

from the Hockley AW12/13 and pre-fall 2012 collections

‘When I was four, I wouldn’t leave the house with my mum if I didn’t like what she was wearing’

The fast fashion fix:

The most attractive things about fashion are…the constant change and the creative process. It forces one to be up-to-date and relevant. Fur, being the most luxurious and controversial material at the same time, challenged me in many different ways.

The most expensive piece I ever designed… was an edgy cropped jacket in Russian sable that retailed at £12,000. It sold out instantly.

Everyone has the right to their own opinion… and if I started defending my use of fur, that would be almost like accepting I was wrong.

Fur can be a great look for summer… with unreliable summers or extreme airconditioning in Miami or Dubai, you can wear little fur shrugs or boleros throughout the year. A multicoloured knitted Rex rabbit piece matches perfectly with a light dress on a chilly summer night.

When I was four, I wouldn’t leave the house

izzet ers

Turkish-born Izzet Ers, 37, who lives in Borough, is the creative director for the fur fashion house, Hockley London with my mum if I didn’t like what she was wearing… and I wouldn’t wear what she’d bought for me unless I was involved in the purchase. It sounds a nightmare, but I just knew what I wanted.

I have a thing about shoes… so I decide what I’m wearing on my feet first and then think about the rest.

If I hadn’t been a fashion designer, I would have been a chef… Food and fashion are similar and taste evolves constantly in both.

Chefs, like designers, push the boundaries to create new sensations.

London is my inspiration… It can be an exhibition, a movie or someone with great

style on the street. For the pre-fall collection, my starting point was ultra-bright colours and different animal prints.

Men can wear fur too… a gentleman’s coat lined with super-sheared mink, or a collar trimmed with beaver or fox is so smart. But a curly lamb waistcoat or plucked mink bomber jacket can look great too.

When I’m not working, I’m… dancing.

Or sleeping.

I cannot live without… music. My favourite albums are Island Life by Grace Jones and Dada by Waterson.

The Hockley Pre-Fall Collection 2012 is available for pre-order at hockleylondon.com aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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Family values

— SADIE FROST —

C

hoosing a school for your child is always very stressful and time-consuming – and you’re fully aware that getting the choice right will affect them for the rest of their life. What I find exciting, as a mother, is the way children develop and how they can be so inspired by everything.

So far, Iris has said she wants to be a chef and has cooked some delicious meals (mung bean stew and pancakes are a speciality) to prove she’s got what it takes. She has also shown an interest in setting up her own business, specialising in nails and nail art. She’s even organised investment, shares, branding, budgets for it. Plus, she has an eye for design, helping me with ideas and mood boards for my ‘Floozie’ swimwear range and ‘Iris and Edie’ pyjamas. And then, she also has a passion for writing; and has shot, styled and created her own magazine.

I don’t think she’s unusual in being so engaged and having so many enthusiasms.

I am certainly not blowing her trumpet, but stressing my own astonishment at how creative and energetic young people not only can be, but – when I look around at the offspring of my friends and people around me – always are.

They just need to be inspired and encouraged and they can then go on to do countless different things.

All of our children are talented and, of course, we all want the best for them. They can take advantage of so many opportunities if guided gently, both in the right way and in the right direction. I know Iris has a lot more confidence than I did at her age and could put her mind to anything.

So very soon I am going to put my feet up and learn how to knit, as I will be retiring – and Iris will do it all; because she can. But first, I have to choose the school that’s going to help her achieve all her hundreds of ambitions. And I feel I may need help…

PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER SIMS; ASSISTANT NICK THOMPSON

‘So far, Iris has said she wants to be a chef and has cooked some delicious meals (mung bean stew and pancakes are a speciality)’

I

— IRIS LAW —

like to write. I like to write fiction about magic; and stories for young kids. I love describing what I see and I especially love to read, particularly Roald Dahl’s books for adults, such as Kiss Kiss and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. But my all-time favourite book is To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. My mum was always reading this and seemed to adore it so, one day when I didn’t have a book on the go, I decided to try it – and, from then on, I couldn’t put it down.

I also love cooking and food. I find it really interesting, the way flavours that are so different and might often seem unappetising together can complement each other and create something delicious. Often, the tastiest things are rather unusual – but you have to try them sometime.

After all, if no one had tried cow’s milk, where would we be now? And it’s not as if animal milk has always been used in cooking. So some person had to have the idea; and what a discovery he or she made.

I also love taking, designing and framing photos.

My god-sister, Lila, and I have got into the habit of creating little photo shoots every time we see each other.

I enjoy this, because it’s everything I love in one go: it’s creative, it makes you think... it’s fashion.

Although I have years to choose, those are my favourite job options at the moment. I hope, when I’m older, I can achieve at least one of these.

‘My god-sister, Lila, and I have started creating little photo shoots when we see each other. It’s creative, it makes you think… it’s fashion’

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FASHION’S

TOP

TWEETERS Rihanna follows them and even their cats have Twitter accounts. Learn from the masters who can set a trend in 140 characters. By Lorelei Marfil and Stephanie Hirschmiller

KRISTIN KNOX

AGE: 26 TWITTER HANDLE: @CLOTHESWHISPER Followers: Over 7,000 Day job: Blogger, wanderer and Pomeranian dog owner.

Why did you start out on Twitter? Because other people told me that, ‘as a blogger’, I had no choice but to try it.

How do you decide your Twitter tone? It depends on my mood, with whom I’m tweeting and how much Champagne I’ve had.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter? The tragedy of Whitney Houston.

What’s the most useful thing about Twitter?

Direct messages. They are a means of instant communication with friends in other countries.

Favourite tweeter? @Queen_UK (during the royal wedding she was brilliant), @white girlproblems. Anyone that makes me laugh.

Kristin Knox

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HILARY ALEXANDER

© PETE NAVEY

AGE: 65 TWITTER HANDLE: @HILARYALEXANDER Followers: Over 218,000 Day job: Fashion journalist named the most influential fashion tweeter at New York fashion week last year.

Sample tweet: ‘Silly idea probably but couldn’t all the world’s billionaires give 1 billion each to solve the Greek/Spain Eurozone crisis? They wouldn’t miss it!’

Who are your Twitter friends and do you know them outside of Twitter? Only really @ Alexa_Chung and @LauraCraik. But I think @Viktor_and_Rolf follow me.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter? The news that Raf Simons was going to become creative director at Dior.

Do you feel popular? Well, my 218,000-plus followers seem pretty insignificant compared to Stephen Fry’s.

Favourite tweeter? So many: @ManRepeller (fashion blogger who likes to wear high-fashion ensembles that often repel men), @Alexa_Chung, @WomensWearDaily, @Huff PostStyle, @BFC (British Fashion Council), @LauraCraik (fashion editor of The Times) @NatashaGuiotto (fashion blogger), @KarenElsonMusic, @DailyFrontRow, @VogueParis, @TelegraphWeird (funny news from The Telegraph), @FashedatLarge (Grazia fashion editor-at-large Melanie Rickey) and anyone with whom I share jokes or comments on Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice and books.

Hilary Alexander

Polly Bean

by Neil Kerber

MODELS WITH MODEMS POLLY BEAN Age: 20 Twitter handle: @pollybean1 Followers: Over 1,700 Day job: Cartoon supermodel.

Tweet: ‘Proud to be a Londoner xxx Kate and Wills have asked me to stay on to party. Might do. Got a big shoot tomorrow.’

How did you start out on Twitter?

I was in demand. The public wanted me to tweet. I had no choice.

Pivotal moment that gained you a lot of followers: Obviously I am often retweeted by designers and prestigious names such as Vogue. This always helps.

It’s good for their career as well.

What’s your most important tech tool? iPhone. Always.

How do you decide on your Twitter tone? I keep it very in line with my natural personality. Intelligent, witty, fascinating and wonderful.

What is the most interesting piece of breaking news you’ve learned on Twitter? Gosh, so many: Karl Lagerfeld removing his shades; Victoria Beckham parting her hair differently. All the major breaking stories that have changed the world.

What do you think is the most useful thing about Twitter? I like the fact that it’s only 140 characters, so tweeting doesn’t take up much time (I’m very busy).

Who is your favourite tweeter? Me. Do you have any bugbears about Twitter? It annoys me that there are people copying me and my tweeting style. I cannot prevent this, and I should feel flattered. That’s what comes with being mega-popular. @missjourdandunn Who: She was discovered in Primark at 16. Voted Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council in 2008.

Sample tweet: ‘I honestly forget I have industry people who follow me… hahaha they are probably disappointed/confused with some of my tweets lol.’

Followers: Over 140,000 @karliekloss Who: The American model has been featured in Vogue, W magazine, V magazine, and ad campaigns for

Victoria’s Secret and Elie Saab.

Sample tweet: ‘World Tour Wednesday w/@kmkloss: breakfast in Paris, lunch in London and dinner in New York… yesterday was a doozey.’

Followers: 71,000 @anjarubikblog Who: The Polish model and cocreator of 25 magazine has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and ad campaigns for Balmain.

Sample tweet: ‘My life motto: it’s better to do something and fail than regret not doing it!’

Followers: Over 40,000 @cocorocha Who: The Canadian model posts her musings from her shoots, travels and parties.

Sample tweet: ‘So... Kevin Bacon just accidentally walked through my shoot. #photobomb #sixdegreesofphotobomb.’

Followers: 321,800 @Caradelevingne Who: British model Cara has walked for designers including Jason Wu, as well as doing ad campaigns for Burberry and Chanel.

Sample tweet: ‘@karliekloss who should we get to design the outfits?

I have spandex but not enough! We need to go back to Tokyo for that #CarlieDelKloss.’

Followers: Over 23,000

@MrsLS Who: That’s Lara Stone, the gap-toothed Dutch/British beauty variously the toast of Love, W magazine, Vogue Paris and ad campaigns for Tom Ford and DKNY. Sample tweet: ‘Just saw Wills and Kate! Proud to be half British.’

Followers: Over 36,900 @Poly_Natasha Who: Russian-born Natasha Poly is the face of Givenchy, Gucci, Jil Sander and Lanvin.

Sample tweet: ‘Good Morning From Sunny Madrid! Today We Shooting In Matadero. Another Exciting Day With Mario Testino.’

Followers: Over 18,000 @MirandaKerr Who: Australian beauty Miranda Kerr started out as a Victoria’s Secret model and has walked for Prada and Balenciaga.

Sample tweet: ‘About to walk the CHANEL show! Enjoy xxx.’

Followers: Over 926,000 @NataSupernova Who: The model mother and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova has been featured in Vogue and i-D and ad campaigns for Chanel.

Sample tweet: ‘Back at Valentino’s chateau to visit again his beautiful archive museum and to pose with the master himself.’

Followers: Over 17,000 AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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BECKY WAKELING

AGE: 30 TWITTER HANDLE: @MYWARDROBE Followers: Over 27,000 Day job: Head of customer marketing for mywardrobe.com. I keep our customers updated on our new designers and trends.

Favourite tweeters?

Depending on what I am looking for at the time, I like The Guardian for quick news snippets, Sasha Wilkins from @LibertyLondonGirl for lifestyle

news, and @Burberry.

Most important tech tool?

Instagram is a great tool that allows us to broadcast across a range of social media channels and Pinterest gives people the content to be creative.

How do you decide on your tone on Twitter?

We love our fans and followers to participate in these channels too, so our tone is conversational.

Most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter? Twitter is a brilliant tool at fashion week for checking if the shows are running late or on time, as everyone tweets from morning to night.

Becky Wakeling

SUSIE LAU

AGE: 28 TWITTER HANDLE: @SUSIEBUBBLE Followers: Over 160,000 Why did you start out on Twitter? I don’t really use Facebook so I saw it as a simpler way of keeping up with my friends. It wasn’t really supposed to have anything to do with my blog, but it was more of a personal thing.

Pivotal moment: I think I somehow got featured on one of Twitter’s homepages as ‘someone to follow’, so that’s how I got a lot of followers.

Most important tech tool? A phone that can handle all your apps. I’m strangely anti-iPhone so I use a Samsung Galaxy Note.

How do you decide on your Twitter tone? I didn’t really have a strategy for it. I just write as I speak in real life.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter? That some people have a lot of time and will create accounts for fictional beings. I think Matt Cardle’s Hat has to be the funniest thus far.

What’s the most useful thing about Twitter? Following news sources and checking for updates through their feeds. Social media sites like Twitter or Weibo (in China) have become almost like media sources. They’re relied upon for getting news to us and allow us to experience things immediately. Facebook has become more like an echo of that immediacy – a place where you can build following, brand loyalty and excitement. Then you have Instagram and Tumblr providing images for people to get inspired by. They’re all essential components from the perspective of a fashion brand or a media outlet.

Favourite tweeter? My friend and editor of Love magazine, Alex Fury.

Pet hates about Twitter? I really dislike Follow Fridays, where you tell other people who to follow. There’s no explanation for it. I just don’t like it.

Susie Lau Ever tweeted anything you wish you hadn’t? Just terrible typos. That’s what ‘delete’ is for.

Aliza Licht

TOP 10 TRANSATLANTIC TWEETERS ALIZA LICHT (ABOVE) AKA DKNY PR GIRL Age: 38 Twitter handle: @dkny Followers: Over 390,000 Tweet: ‘Today’s recap: clothes in the PR closet were so heavy they ripped the rails off the walls & we need to fly an asst to milan 2 drop a look off.’

Day job: Senior vice president of global communications for Donna Karan. I’ve been with the company for 15 years. My responsibilities range from creating press strategies to overseeing editorial placement, producing runway shows and working on celebrity dressing. I also manage our Tumblr (dknyprgirl.com), pinterest. com/dknyprgirl and whosay.com/ dknyprgirl.

Favourite tweeter?

@PollyBean1 – I recently dressed her for the Met in a gorgeous Donna Karan Atelier gown. We hit it off and have been chatting via Twitter ever since. She’s absolutely mad, but I adore her.

Who are your Twitter friends?

I actually met and hired my assistant via Twitter. I think when you spend so much time chatting in this space you realise how much you have in common with some people and how it makes sense to take it offline.

What’s your most important tech tool?

I recently discovered Storify, a genius way to aggregate and save conversations across multiple platforms, simply by dragging the content. It’s amazing.

How do you decide on your tone on Twitter?

I’m lucky because I just have to be myself. I’ve lived our brands for 15 years and it’s very easy for me to convey what I love through my own personal filter.

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JENNY LONGWORTH

AGE: 28 TWITTER HANDLE: @JENNYLONGWORTH Followers: Over 6,800 Day job: Session nail technician and UK ambassador for Revlon nails.

What gained you a lot of followers?

I remember being well happy that I had 20 followers. I never thought I would reach almost 7,000. But nails are so fashionable right now, manicurists have gained a status that we never had before. @Rihanna and @JessieJ both follow me, so loads of their fan base do too.

Most useful thing about Twitter?

It’s great to keep track of news and current events. For me, it’s good to build a fan base, which I guess in the long-term will help in building myself as a brand. It makes everything and everyone more accessible than ever before. You can contact celebrities directly, which is weird.

Favourite tweeter? @UberFacts is genius, if only for little pearls of wisdom like: ‘50% of giraffes are bisexual.’ I’m a bit of a geek so also love @OxfordWords and @thewordoftheday. But generally anyone who makes me giggle like @VICE and rapper @AmplifyDot are good for a laugh.

Favourite tweet?

When Rihanna tweeted me and called me her ‘boo’ that was emotional.

I’ve also had a couple of hate tweets. That was funny. I was like ‘OMG Have I made it now!?’

Tweeted anything you wish you hadn’t?

Yeah, I have a Twitter rant every now and again. Then I think: ‘Maybe I should just wind my neck in.’

Jenny Longworth Self-portrait: Tavi Gevinson

Oscar PR Girl Leandra Medine

@oscarprgirl Who: Erika Bearman, director of communications, Oscar de la Renta.

Sample tweet: ‘major blouse drama.’

Followers: Over 130,000

Chanel grabs Brad Pitt for No. 5 ads. Does this mean he’ll be at the shows?’

Followers: Over 196,000

@bergdorfs Who: Cannon Hodge, social media manager at Bergdorf Goodman.

Sample tweet: ‘Every night my doorman & I have a most endearing discourse about shoes.’

Followers: Over 115,000

@ninagarcia Who: Fashion director of Marie Claire and Project Runway judge.

Sample tweet: ‘The first time I laid eyes on Blake Lively, she was in a skirt so tiny it could have doubled as a turban.’

Followers: Over 438,000

@CathyHorynNYT Who: Cathy Horyn, fashion critic of The New York Times.

Sample tweet: ‘Man in the house:

@GiltAlexandra Who: Alexandra Wilson tweets about life as the co-founder of online store Gilt Groupe and co-

author of the company’s new book.

Sample tweet: ‘Lovely lunch with the fantastically talented and charming @kimberlyovitz. Have you checked out her sale on @GiltGroupe? Love, love, love!’

Followers: Over 19,500 @ManRepeller Who: Leandra Medine, blogger Sample tweet: ‘Falling into sidewalk garbage bags, very Comme de Garçons.’

Followers: Over 78,200 @rumineely Who: Rumi Neely, blogger.

Sample tweet: ‘There’s nothing

worse than a reverse stalker.’

Followers: Over 72,800 @tavitulle Who: Tavi Gevinson, blogger.

Sample tweet: ‘My fears of driving, boys, the outside, and the ‘80s led me to believe License To Drive was a horror movie.’

Followers: Over 66,900 @sea_of_shoes Who: Jane Aldridge, blogger.

Sample tweet: ‘I love the more minimal sexy heels that are starting to happen again...please make room, platforms!!’

Followers: Over 68,600 AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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NAVAZ BATLIWALLA

AGE: WILL ONLY ADMIT TO 2 ½ YEARS – HER TWITTER AGE TWITTER HANDLE: @DISNEYROLLERGIRL Followers: Over 13,500 Tweeting since: 2009 Day job: Freelance fashion writer and stylist.

Sample tweet: ‘Am in retail heaven today: new CoutureLab store is a divine destination and the revamped Conran Shop has been blissfully decluttered. Love!’

How did you start out on Twitter?

I started blogging in 2007 and when I bought my BlackBerry in 2009, I thought I might as well start tweeting. September 2009 felt like the first season that people were tweeting from the shows. There’s never an amount of followers that you’re happy with, so I try not to look at the numbers.

How do you decide on your Twitter tone?

It’s mostly like my blog but a bit more light-hearted. It needs to be conversational to encourage people to engage with me. I try not to rant or overtweet.

Most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter? The news about Alexander McQueen was quite awful. There’s nothing worse than seeing a story unfold on Twitter like that, it’s like watching a car crash. I cried into my keyboard.

What’s the most useful thing about Twitter?

Sometimes it’s better than Google for targeted real-time searches. It’s brilliant during fashion week, especially with Twitpics. We live in a fast-moving world and people want their fashion news as it happens now.

Favourite tweeter? I use Twitter more for information than entertainment, so I love @luxurysociety because it tweets links on subjects that I’m interested in. @fredbutlerstyle for fashion fabulosity and @royalsecrets for sheer silliness.

Favourite tweet? I actually tend to ‘favourite’ a lot food pictures, like a Sam McKnight (@sammcknight1) photo of a cake.

Pet hates about Twitter? It just takes up far too much of my time. As a freelancer who misses office banter, I can’t help getting sucked into silly debates and then wondering how it’s suddenly lunchtime and the document in front of me is still blank.

Navaz Batliwalla

WHEN MEN TWEET @alexanderfury Who: Alexander Fury Age: 29 Followers: 4,700 Day job: Editor of LOVE magazine and thelovemagazine.co.uk.

Sample tweet: ‘Are designers just lazy or do they really think people won’t clock when they rip off barely year-old Céline for their resort collection?’

How did you start out on Twitter?

I started to use Twitter to comment on the shows, and it quickly became an obsession.

My personal Twitter is for candid (and generally expletive-laden) outpourings.

What gained you a lot of followers?

Interviewing Lady Gaga live in 2010. With Twitter, you can quickly gauge opinions and reactions to anything, and put your own voice out there.

What are your thoughts on the power of the tweet?

When I sit back to assess the impact, it startles me. Not so much the financial side (those mind-boggling on-paper figures always make my lip curl with distrust) but the impact on our everyday lives. We’re plugged-in 24/7 now, by choice, and that’s a bit scary.

Favourite tweeter?

My boyfriend @arebourslondon posts relatively infrequently but always makes me laugh. I’m also a fan of @susiebubble and @libertylondongirl for pithy fashion observations. @mariannewman is great backstage at the shows.

Tweeted anything you wish you hadn’t?

I’ve trained myself to hold my tongue quite well, despite appearances to the contrary.

Wish I didn’t swear quite so much though. @LibertyLondon Who: Damian Grogan Age: 40 Followers: Over 57,000 Day job: Head of digital at Liberty, overseeing

all the digital strategy.

Sample tweet ‘Escape the rain with a trip to our shoe department this afternoon...’

Who is your favourite tweeter? @caitlinmoran makes Twitter really interesting.

Most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter?

I have learned that people are braver behind a Twitter mask than they are in real life.

Favourite tweet?

It’s one from Mr Gresty, print-maker and designer, @mrgrestyshop – it’s a print which says: ‘Silly Question, Silly Answer.’

Pet tweet hates?

When companies have a social media page but don’t monitor or reply to their customers.

It’s very damaging. @derekblasberg Who: The jet-setting editor-at-large at US Harper’s Bazaar.

Sample tweet: ‘So this was easy to pack for: JFK --> LAX --> VGT --> LHR --> CDG --> MXP. See you in two weeks, New York. Don’t get too hot without me!’

Followers: Over 83,000 @johnjannuzzi Who: John Jannuzzi is an editor at the US’s Lucky Magazine Sample tweet: ‘Just bleached my Prada shoes, we’ll see how that all works out.’

Followers: Over 17,000 @mrjoezee Who: TV presenter and creative director of US Elle.

Sample tweet: ‘Getting home after relaxing, rainy Hamptons weekend. Tomorrow, a cover shoot and Tuesday, I start Season 3 of #AllOnTheLine!! Woohoo!’

Followers: Over 143,000 @simondoonan Who: Simon Doonan, creative ambassador for Barneys, famed for his ‘Doonanisms’ and stylish antics.

Sample tweet: ‘DOONANISM: my mother, being very much a drag queen herself, had

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Fred Butler

FRED BUTLER

AGE 32 TWITTER HANDLE: @FREDBUTLERSTYLE Followers: Over 6,000 Day job: Fashion designer Sample tweet: ‘@PiersAtkinson Piers does a lush line in bananas, pomegranates, strawberries… Could do you a whole Carmen Miranda fruit salad!!'

What’s your pivotal Twitter moment: My following has always been a very steady increase. If a large magazine, site or figure retweets me, I get a little burst of followers.

What’s your most important tech tool?

My phone, but I wish I had the Twitter app connected directly to a camera in my eye so I could instantly upload thoughts as they occur to me.

How do you decide on your Twitter tone?

It’s important to keep it pure and unconscious, otherwise it’s cheating. I much prefer following people who have a unique voice.

I'm much more confident in writing than I am in person.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter?

The death of Amy Winehouse.

What’s the most useful thing about Twitter?

Making direct communication with someone you wouldn't otherwise have the chance to come in contact with. Music acts can have a meteoric breakthrough. Take people like Lana Del Rey, Azealia Banks and Grimes. It was Lady Gaga who started it all.

Favourite tweeter?

Alex Fury (@AlexanderFury), the editor of Love magazine is an interesting character. He says exactly what he has on his mind.

Favourite tweet?

The singer @joshweller made a joke about asking for childbirth manuals in a bookshop and being directed to the Caesarean section.

Alexander Fury

a stratospherically high tolerance for nelly affectations. Lucky me.’

Followers: Over 14,000 @AskMrMickey Who: Editorial director of Paper magazine Sample tweet: ‘I love this online auction thing. It’s so exciting and I get to do it in my underpants!’

Followers: Over 24,000 @jeremylangmead Who: Editor-in-chief of Mr Porter.

Sample tweet: ‘Yahoo, a whole weekend ahead with no fashion shows, posh dinners, polite conversation or polished shoes *pulls cheery grinch face*’ Followers: Over 5,400 @jimshi809 Who: Jim Shi is a ‘fashion journalist by day.

Penguin trainer by night.’

Choupette

Sample tweet: ‘Must find time in hectic resort schedule to attend today’s VIP preview YSL sample sale. Must, I tell you. #priorities.’

Followers: Over 19,000

Even Karl’s iPad-loving cat Choupette has her own Twitter account @ChoupettesDiary

@KarlLagerfeld Who: Needs no introduction but, just for the record, he is creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own Karl Lagerfeld label.

Sample tweet: ‘Sketching the Queen’s new outfit ... #jubileetv.’

Followers: Over 45,800

Age: Nine months Followers: Over 44,000 Why did you decide to start up a Twitter account? I felt I owed it to my adoring fans.

Most interesting thing you’ve learned via Twitter?

That thousands of humans want me to date their cats – I knew I was loved, but not this fawned over.

Most useful thing about Twitter? The ability to criticise humans’ poor fashion decisions.

How do you decide what tone to adopt? I dictate my tweets to my maids, who perfect my ‘catty’ voice.

Favourite tweeter? Why, Daddy of course!

Pet hates about Twitter? My inability to finally capture the elusive Twitter bird.

Sample tweet: ‘Daddy may not dress me up but little does he know how good I look when he leaves & I try on in his black blazer. ME-OWWW!’

@formichetti Who: Nicola Formichetti, creative director at Thierry Mugler and Uniqlo and stylist to Lady Gaga.

Sample tweet: ‘I’m visiting opening ceremony shinjuku (1pm), shibuya (3pm) united arrows (5pm) then LHP harajuku (7pm). see you all there TODAY!!’

Followers: Over 151,000

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‘modelling saved me’

Portia Freeman has a rock star boyfriend, a toddler and a high-fashion CV that starts with Testino and goes up from there. No wonder she never had time for teenage rebellion, she tells Beatrice Aidin

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–– My top spot ––

My top shop

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My top shop

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‘We split up, got back together again and I was pregnant at 20. I always wanted to be a young mum: I felt like I was put on this earth to breed’

Photographs by Dieter Brandenburg; Hair and Make up by Erika De La Barquera

I

n a corner of combined café and shop 2&4, near Old Street, 23-year-old model Portia Freeman nestles Dylan, two, on her hip as Lola, her chung (half pug, half chihuahua, all devil), pogos with excitement. She lives just up the road from here with Pete Denton, bassist with The Kooks. Luke, Portia’s photographer brother, hovers in the background, poised for childcare duty. “I do love it here,” Portia says. “The owners, Maurice Nugent and Mia Fihnborg, rescue retro furniture and we’ve bought some for our flat. The food is great. Mia is Swedish and she makes the most delicious sugar-free cake which is quite healthy – so long as you have it in moderation.”

Since she claims to have put on four stone while pregnant with Dylan, food is not far from Freeman’s mind now she’s fought the post-baby flab: “My hips were 34 inches but went up to 41 inches. I would never have lost the weight if Holly Davidson, Sadie Frost’s sister and, very conveniently, a personal trainer, hadn’t been on speed dial.”

Brought up in Weybridge, Surrey, the world of high fashion was never on the cards

until Portia was snapped up by a talent scout at the Birmingham NEC Clothes Show Live, aged 15. “It was modelling that saved me,” she says, referring to the fact that, after her father died, she had started to go off the rails as a young teenager.

However, if your first modelling job is for British Vogue, shot by Mario Testino and styled by Lucinda Chambers, you clearly have no time for rebellion: “It was very intense,” she recalls now. “But he [Testino] is a legend and it was a dream.” Since then, she has worked with Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen and, for the last three years, has been the face – and legs – of Charlotte Dellal’s luxury accessories range, Charlotte Olympia.

Will she get married to Denton? “I’m in two minds about it. But he calls me his wifey and I call him my husband.” They met – in true rocker style – when he was leafing through a look book for Sadie Frost’s clothes label, Frost French. “He contacted Sadie about my photo and asked to meet me on a blind date.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, though: we split up, got back together again and I was pregnant at 20. But I always wanted to be a young mum, I felt like I was put on this earth to breed.”

As for her own personal style, Portia mixes vintage with H&M, but covets Chanel. “Anything Chanel – it’s the accessories as well as the dresses; I love Chanel,” she sighs. “But I avoid Topshop at all costs: it’s panic-attack central. Pete and I love Selfridges. Pete is a shopaholic and he’ll buy with me in mind, as I wear all his clothes as well.” Her favourite item is a pair of Belstaff boots. “I’ve had them for five years and they still haven’t fallen apart. And I love my denim shirts.”

The family’s next move is to Crouch End, which will mean she has to abandon 2&4, much to her distress: “The band all live around here – they are all Dylan’s godfathers – and the schools are really amazing.” She used to socialise with other models, such as Daisy Lowe. “Now I hang out with older people; things change big-time when you have kids. Really, I’m 23 going on 56,” she says brightly, scooping Dylan up and away.

2&4 Cafe, Gallery, Shop 2-4 Southgate Road, London N1 3JW 020 7254 5202, 2mdesign.net aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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JEWELLERY Marilyn Monroe tribute set from the Red Carpet collection by Chopard DRESS Dolce & Gabbana 38 | aMUSE

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All about

Eva How did a childhood picking mushrooms and dreaming about princesses in a Czech forest prepare a teenaged Eva Herzigova for a life in high fashion? Surprisingly well, discovers Chris Sullivan on the Croisette in Cannes

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JEWELLERY by Chopard, as before DRESS by Dolce & Gabbana, as before 40 | aMUSE

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JEWELLERY 18-carat white-gold necklace with diamonds; and 18-carat white-gold earrings with diamonds, both from the Haute Joaillerie collection

by Chopard SUNGLASSES Chopard DRESS Salvatore Ferragamo aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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I

’m standing in the Chopard Lounge in the penthouse garden of the Martinez Hotel, looking over the Promenade de la Croisette. It is the second day of the Cannes Film festival and I’m surrounded by hordes of chic PR girls with clipboards, camera crews with tripods and photographers with intent. Some are baff lingly busy while others, perfectly content with their lot, just sit and wait, eyes drifting to the azure Mediterranean as waiters top up their glasses with vintage pink Champagne.

After a good two hours of this, I hear a flurry of excitement and, along with the rest of the room, turn around rather nonchalantly (easily done after a few glasses) to see an impossibly tall, impossibly statuesque, impossibly beautiful creature teeter past on perilous heels. She is dressed in a ‘50s-style diaphanous blouse and a mini skirt adorned with appliqué mirrors. Her legs are the longest I have ever seen. For a moment, stunned, I forget where I am and who I am, until I realise that the vision before me is Eva Herzigova and I am here to talk to her.

The former Wonderbra model is here as an ambassador for Chopard, one of the Film Festival’s sponsors. As such, her main task is to sport a necklace on the red carpet that Chopard has created with the festival icon, Marilyn Monroe, in mind. “I love Marilyn Monroe and I always have,” she coos. Her diction is perfect and her American accent has just a hint of Czech. “I just love how she didn’t realise she was such an amazing actress. But as time goes on we appreciate her even more. I think she never received full recognition during her lifetime; she was always fighting to prove that she was a true actress and be taken more seriously.”

The parallels with Herzigova herself are hanging in the air. “A lot of people ask me if men treat me as an object, especially in relationships,” she remarks with a sigh. “And some ask, ‘Is he with you only because of the way you look, and not for your mind?’ You need a little bit of self-confidence to get over all that. I know there’s more to me than looks, so I don’t have that problem. But it’s about confidence and security: if you have a problem with it, then men will, too. I think it’s all to do with my upbringing. My looks didn’t matter when I was growing up. I was just a lanky teenager.”

Eva Herzigova was born in Litvinov, Czechoslovakia (now part of the Czech Republic) in 1973. Her father was a coal mining

engineer and her mother an accountant. “I had the best childhood because it was real,” she smiles warmly. ‘I spent a lot of time with my parents. They didn’t want to be part of the Communist Party so we had no advantages; none. Their life was all about work. Our only extravagance was sports and nature. We spent time together in the woods picking mushrooms and raspberries and doing really simple but very rewarding things together, as a family, like making marmalade. It really was lovely. Great family life is about doing things together around the table. Simple things. It’s not about money or possessions.”

Herzigova spends a lot of time thinking about her own childhood and family, no doubt because she’s now the mother of two boys – George, four, and Philippe, one – by her boyfriend, Italian businessman Gregorio Marsiaj. “Being a mother is a hard job, but it’s the best in the world,” she chuckles. “Every day is something new and great. My son George is at a wonderful age. He’s in love with his teacher, he says. He’s four and a half and he’s already trying to find out how I’m going to feel about it when he leaves home.

He’s like, ‘Mum, I’m going to marry and leave the house and have a family and are you going to miss me? How sad will you be?’ It’s funny, but it is a taste of what is to come. It’s a little sad as well, because he will leave me at some point.’’

Herzigova herself left home after winning a beauty contest in Prague, aged just 17. A modelling contract followed and, within weeks, the angular young blonde was strutting on the Paris catwalk.

Did she miss that mushroom-picking childhood on the border with Germany? “No!” she coughs, almost choking on her Perrier.

“Are you kidding? Suddenly, I was away from my very strict parents, their discipline and their order, and I didn’t have them behind me, telling me what to do. I was on my own, I was a teenager in Paris and then I travelled the world. It was exhilarating and beautiful and a great lesson. I loved it.

“And things just got better,” she continues warming to her theme. “I got the Guess jeans campaign and after that I worked with Helmut Newton. I pulled out all these pictures by the great photographers and put them on my wall and told myself, ‘I want to work with that one and that one’, and I did. It was amazing. I love photography; I always have.

And here I was with the greatest photographers in the world. I worked with Guy Bourdin before he died. I’ve been around for a long time; don’t forget.” Other snappers she’s worked with include Ellen Von Unworth, Peter Lindbergh, David Bailey, Steven Meisel, Steven Klein – in fact, it would be easier to name the few she hasn’t worked with.

“But out of all of them, Helmut [Newton] was something else,” she beams, her Wedgwood-blue eyes sparkling. “He would snap two or three images of each shot, no more. And he’d get one absolutely perfect shot. He would put you into a painful, awkward position, maybe almost naked in a street, and then he would leave you. He would say, ‘Don’t move!’ Then he’d go and have a coffee

‘Some people ask, “Is he with you only because of the way you look, and not for your mind?”’

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JEWELLERY earrings and necklace by Chopard, as before; titanium cuff with diamonds, from the Haute Joaillerie collection by Chopard DRESS Pucci aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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JEWELLERY by Chopard, as before DRESS by Dolce & Gabbana, as before

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make-up by cathyanne macallister for b-ageency; hair by vinz for b-agency

and come back and you would be dying. But he wanted that frustration. He wanted that look, that emotion, and then it was just one or two clicks and he had it. I had a great relationship with Helmut. I always questioned him and everyone would be like, ‘Oh, you can’t do that to Helmut!’ But he liked me.” One shot he took of her has her posing with a sex doll – and it’s undeniable that she exudes sex appeal, which is why photographers grope for their cameras when she walks into the room.

The most memorable image of her for most people, though, is the 1994 Wonderbra campaign, created by advertising maestro Trevor Beattie, that featured her in a black bra with a beaming smile and the words, ‘Hello Boys’. The ad was a sensation, filled billboards the world over, broke new ground, won tenth-best poster of the century and ended up in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

“It’s just amazing how popular it was and the impact it made,” she recalls, laughing. “It was very smart advertising; it was witty and empowering to women – who cares what the boys think, the girls are in power. That was a new thing. I’m still very proud of that campaign.”

Looking at Herzigova, now aged 39, among the surgically enhanced of every generation, what is apparent is that she looks so natural and unforced. Slight crows’ feet edge her eyes and a wispy laughter line circles her mouth, but these tiny signs of ageing make her even more attractive. “I think, today, we are celebrating women, whatever age they are,” she states. “People want authenticity, they want interest, they want experience and stories. In the ‘90s you’d have 17-year-old girls doing wrinkle cream ads, but Jane Fonda and Julia Roberts are doing those ad campaigns now – amazing women, representing their true age.”

She puts her own youthfulness down to accepting who she is and being comfortable with it. “If you love yourself and know your weaknesses and your strengths, and don’t see yourself only as a shell but as a person, then you are happy. There is a different kind of beauty that comes from within, that is eternal and doesn’t age.”

Having travelled all round the world, Herzigova has finally settled in Chelsea. “It is just the best,” she enthuses. “It really, really is. You can be yourself and do what you want. If you want a city lifestyle it’s there, or it’s like being in the countryside with the parks.

You have so many wonderful museums and every church is open.

It’s so friendly and easy and connected. I couldn’t live anywhere else. I go to La Pizzeria on Sydney Street at the back of the Chelsea Farmer’s Market. There’s a great health food store there as well. I eat at San Lorenzo and go to the local cinema, I walk in the park and I’ve started to love English designers like McQueen and Stella McCartney. I’m becoming an Anglophile.” It appears that her love of London, somewhat unexpectedly, stems from the Ealing comedies which were constantly shown on Czech TV in the ‘80s. “My favourite period is the 1930s because the movie stars were so gorgeous, the houses were so gorgeous, the whole way of living was so very sophisticated.

“But I really wanted to be a princess,” she continues, merrily.

“Then I decided that if I couldn’t be a princess, I would be a tourist guide in a castle. I lived in a dream world.”

Some would say that her life now is better than that of many a princess. She is fêted and courted, sitting in one of the world’s greatest hotels, wearing jewels intended for one of the world’s most iconic stars at the world’s most glamorous occasion. “I know,” she whispers, suddenly looking a little bashful. “It’s pure Hollywood glamour in Cannes, but it’s still essentially about films and that’s why it keeps bringing in all those stars. For me, as a lover of film, it’s a really great place to be.”

Before I leave, I stand up, take off my sunglasses, shake hands and bid my goodbyes. “You have such beautiful eyes,” she exclaims.

“Why do you hide them behind those glasses?”

“I bet you say that to all the boys,” I reply.

“Ha!” she chuckles wickedly. “Maybe I do and maybe I don’t.” a chopard.com

‘Suddenly, I was away from my very strict parents and their discipline and their order and I didn’t have them behind me telling me what to do. I was on my own, I was a teenager and in Paris’

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den

the mother

Deborah Meaden is a ruthless dragon who takes no prisoners, on television or in business – but she’s also a devotee of the good life, with a herd of micro-pigs and a flock of ducks. Lydia Slater tries to make sense of the paradoxical Ms Meaden

D

eborah Meaden’s Cruella de Vil image is distinctly misleading. Sitting on her throne in the darkened Dragons’ Den, she comes across as totally merciless, dismissing hapless would-be purveyors of false nails for cats and giant knitting needles with a curt, “You’re wasting my time!” and a roll of her china-blue eyes.

But off-screen, she has a positively cuddly belief in giving the underdog a helping hand.

When I interviewed her last year, she asked me to help her re-home 35 micro-pigs which had grown too large to be thought cute any more and were about to be converted into bacon. “There’s something intrinsically wrong in raising an animal as a pet and then, because it gets three inches too big, slaughtering it,” she says, indignantly.

So what happened in the end? “We re-homed over 20,” she says.

“I took two, a male and a female, and she ended up having nine

piglets…” Meaden and her husband Paul also have three dogs, a cat, five horses, three sheep, three geese, 12 Indian runner ducks and a flock of chickens.

But it’s not only the animal kingdom that benefits from her assistance. Meaden, 53, is equally keen to support those eager entrepreneurs who hope to emulate her success. She has just taken on the role of national ambassador for the Newspaper Society’s Local Business Accelerators campaign, in which some 500 regional and local papers will search for the nation’s most promising young businesses and boost their chances of success with free advertising space and advice from local business mentors. The overall winner will benefit from the priceless opportunity of mentoring from Meaden herself.

“Whatever business I work with will have lots of things they do brilliantly already, and other areas where they will be missing something,” she explains. “A mentor is in an overview position to spot what’s going wrong. To me, the key is all about helping people to do it for themselves.”

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photographs by Jon Freeman

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Of course, Meaden has 33 years of valuable experience at her fingertips, having started her first business – selling ceramics in Italy – at the age of 19.

But what should prove really inspiring for her protégés is her unquenchable enthusiasm for what she does.

“I am retired,” she says. “I don’t have to work.” (Her self-made fortune is reportedly in the region of £40m.) “What I choose to do is business. I love it so much, I’d be amazed if I didn’t carry on.”

She leads a somewhat hectic existence, shuttling between her Georgian farm in Somerset (which used to be owned by William Pitt the Elder and which she is painstakingly restoring to its former glory), London, where she conducts business meetings, and Manchester, where Dragons’ Den is now filmed.

“There are times when I get the balance wrong, but mostly I have a very nice life,” she says.

“I get to meet the most amazing people and, when I want to, I can just relax.”

Today, she says, she arrived for a business meeting fresh off her horse and still wearing her riding clothes. “And nobody dared say anything,” she chuckles.

Meaden has 22 businesses on her roster, several of which came into being through Dragons’ Den, including a recipe-sharing site for foodies called MyDish, a shower that prevents Legionnaire’s Disease, called Steri-Spray, and Value My Stuff, an online antiques valuation service. “I do like seeing something start from nothing, and people taking responsibility for their lives. I get very chuffed when I see people I’ve invested in doing really well,” she says, with quasi-maternal pride.

The jewel in her crown is Fox Brothers, a 240-year-old textile maker that invented flannel and dressed Winston Churchill, and which is now producing fabrics for Louis Vuitton. Last October, an offshoot brand, called The Merchant Fox, was launched to boost the company’s profile by selling luxury branded accessories – from bags to dressing gowns – direct to consumers through its website.

“We have been blown away by the response,” she says. “30 percent of our business is in the US already. They love our stuff.”

Meaden is Somerset-born herself but was brought up in Essex with her elder sister Gail by their divorced mother. At first, times were tough. She remembers her mother, Sonia, going without food so that she and her sister could eat. But Sonia and her second husband, Brian, (whom Meaden calls her father) built up their holiday park business, Weststar Holidays, from nothing into a multimillion-pound concern. So it’s not surprising that Meaden is

passionate about enterprise. As a child, her role-playing games were of running her own companies. “I always knew I had to make my own way in life,” she says. Aged seven, she was selling flowers on the drive for pocket money; by eleven, she was taking summer jobs to buy herself her own pony and pay for its upkeep. After her first business (the ceramics importing company) failed, she took out a Stefanel clothing franchise and, eventually, in 1988, joined the family business, expanding the holiday parks from one to five.

She bought out her parents in 1999 and, later, sold the company in a deal worth £33m, while retaining a 23 percent stake. In 2007, she sold her remaining stake for £19m.

Weststar made her fortune in more ways than one: it was there that she met Paul, a 6’5” rugby player. At that time, he was working as a consultant to the leisure industry. “But I never really expected to get married,” Meaden admits.

Now, he runs the domestic side of their life together. “We’ve got a smallholding in Somerset and we’re 90 percent self-sufficient,” she says. “He organises our social life, the food and he keeps the farm running.” It transpires that he is also a fabulous cook, which is a good thing as Meaden is barely able to make a sandwich for herself and, left to her own devices, eats pickles directly out of the jar.

They have no children, although she has said in the past that they wanted some. Actually, you can’t imagine where she would have found the time to cram them in without ruining her career, but she says she thinks that women with children develop a competitive advantage. “It gives you an extra edge, managing all those relationships.”

Meaden was approached to join Dragons’ Den in 2006 as a replacement for Rachel Elnaugh, whose Red Letter Days business had gone bust. “I had a very nice life and had got myself to a place I wanted to be. I wasn’t sure about stepping out into the limelight – I like to be in control of my destiny and, when you get into the media, it takes on a role of its own. But I was intrigued and it was a new challenge…”

And if there is one thing that really does frighten Meaden, it’s the thought of not facing up to a challenge. “I am terrified of being afraid of life,” she says. “I’m not a very competent swimmer, but I went diving with whale sharks and they are eight metres long. The minute it crosses my mind that I don’t think I want to do something, I think, I’ll have to do it now. I never want to let fear get the better of me.” Spoken like a true dragon. a

‘I am terrified of being afraid of life. I’m not a very competent swimmer, but I went diving with whale sharks and they are eight metres long.

I never want to let fear get the better of me’

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a

second

skin

photograph by Jeon Seung Hwan

From an impoverished childhood in 1970s Brixton to the top of the charts, Skin ruled London for a decade.

And now the lead singer of Skunk Anansie is back and better than ever. The 90s revival starts here, says Stephanie Hirschmiller

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photographs, clockwise from top: stuart weston, michael sondergaard

Skunk Anansie’s new album, Black Traffic, is released in September

Skin wearing a feathered piece by Keko Hainswheeler

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M

agazines are awash with super models from Claudia Schif fer to Naomi Campbell; De La Soul are playing Bestival; and everyone’s wearing hightops. Yes, the ‘90s are back. And so is Skin – Skunk Anansie’s front woman, solo artist and one of the decade’s most

enduring creative forces.

The group played its first gig at London’s Splash club in 1994 and the following year were voted Best New British Band by Kerrang! magazine. The band, best known for the single, ‘Weak’, followed that with three albums, Paranoid & Sunburnt, Stoosh and Post Orgasmic Chill, which sold over four million copies. They toured with U2 and Aerosmith, and Skin duetted with Pavarotti.

Skin was just as inf luential in fashion as she was in music world. Her shaved head and fierce demeanour were courted by photographers from Mario Testino to Nick Knight. She walked for Gianfranco Ferre, Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford during his Gucci days.

But when we went to talk to her, for someone so visible, Skin (real name Deborah Anne Dyer) was a difficult woman to track down. First we were scheduled to meet at Fabric nightclub in Clerkenwell, where she was DJing at a gig for Italian fashion college Instituto Marangoni. But our 9pm interview was bumped to 11, then midnight and then timed out altogether as she only arrived at the club just before 1am, when her set was about to start.

So when it came to the scheduled rematch – prior to the second leg of her DJ circuit in Milan – I was expecting an acerbic diva with a manner as clipped as her hair. After all, this was the lady who coined the phrase “Clit-Rock” to describe her music.

However, Skin, now 44, proved softly spoken, thoughtful, measured and completely at odds with her on-stage persona. But if she has mellowed over the last two decades, her style remains reassuringly in-your-face. “I really like angular, weird clothes that are quite different; quite unique,” she told me, though she admits her choices have matured and developed over time. “The ‘90s was one of the worst eras for fashion. I really know my own style now.

And I like things that I can wear over and over again for many years, so I’m definitely not a seasonal dresser.” This, despite her interest in fashion and ongoing devotion to Ford: “I think he’s special,” she says of the man who has since become a brand in his own right. “It was really lovely working with him in those early days, before he did anything else. I think he’s a great example, in

that he really thinks about how clothes are going to work and how they’re going to fit. He’s up there as one of my top three favourite designers on the planet.”

Other favoured designers are McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, androgynous label Unconditional and that of her friend, exGianfranco Ferré creative director, Liborio Capizzi.

Skin grew up in 1970s Brixton with her three brothers. Her mother was a nurse and her father was in the air force and, later, worked on an oil rig. She remembers a childhood that was poor, but lively, playing cricket in the middle of the road: “Nobody had anything but everybody was in the same situation so there was no example of riches constantly in our faces. You look back and you realise how poor you were; but we didn’t see it at the time.” It was during her childhood that she learned to defend herself. “If you didn’t want to stand up to a fight, you’d be the one that got beaten up all the time. You had to be quite tough, but I loved it.” Growing up in inner-city London, as a black, gay woman had its challenges but, as Skin says, “I think you have to get to a point in your life where you can weather the storm, and weather people’s negativity towards you.

You have to have a thick skin.

But you get to a point where you’re like, ‘I really don’t care.’”

“I remember when I decided to come out, the person whose opinion I cared about was my mum. If my mum was OK, I’d be like, ‘Who the hell are you lot? You can’t beat me!’ That was my adage.” She adopted a similar attitude when it came to dealing with the press: “I was talking to NME and they said, ‘Oh, your boyfriend this…’ and I was like, ‘No, actually, it’s girlfriend,’ and then I just carried on with the conversation.”

Musically, her influences range from Kurt Cobain and David Bowie to Prince and Grace Jones but it was the sight of Blondie on Top of the Pops that made her realise that she wanted to be a singer.

“I remember thinking she was so cool! I don’t know why, but I knew I could sing – I was only about 5.”

Skunk Anansie split in 2001: “we’d burned ourselves out by working too hard.” Skin embarked on a solo career with two albums, Fleshwounds in 2003 and Fake Chemical State in 2006, and supported Robbie Williams and Placebo’s world tours. Following an eight-year hiatus, the band reformed in 2009, releasing Wonderlustre a year later. And now, with new album Black Traffic out in September and a Brixton Academy date in December, just like 90s fashion, they’re a force to be reckoned with all over again. a Black Traffic, out 17th September. Skunk Anansie play Brixton Academy 1st December, o2academybrixton.co.uk

‘Nobody had anything, but everybody was in the same situation. You look back and you realise how poor you were, but at the time, we didn’t see it’

aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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LA ISLA

BONITA Jaime Winstone takes time off from acting in Harvey Weinstein’s latest film to strike a pose in Ibiza.

By Stephanie Hirschmiller

Photographs by Stefan Sieler Hair and make-up by Holly Silius Styling by Liz Mendez

54 | AMUSE

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SWIMSUIT Fendi T-SHIRT Monki BRACELET Butler & Wilson NECKLACE Chanel ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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shirt Vintage Versace JEWELLERY Liz Mendez Vintage, as before 56 | aMUSE

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DRESS Vintage Halston ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage, as before

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(OPPOSITE RIGHT) SKIRT Carmelita Couture BODY House of Holland, as before ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage, as before (FAR RIGHT) JACKET Moschino at Lucy in Disguise ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage, as before (THIS PAGE) CLOTHES House of Holland ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage, as before

58 | aMUSE

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F

rom Becky, the gobby teenage minx of Noel Clarke’s Kidulthood, the movie that made her name, to hard-as-nails machinist Sandra in Made in Dagenham, Jaime Winstone specialises in strong characters. But then, you’d expect nothing less from Ray Winstone’s daughter.

“You get to take something away from these people you play. I’ve played some pretty tough women, so I guess I’ve got quite tough from that,” she concedes. But although she looks like an angry mod complete with shaved head and heavy-metal boots, as soon as she opens her mouth she’s charming, interesting, smart, devoid of attitude – and considerably gentler than the roles she plays.

That’s not to say she’s an ingénue: she’s grown up with acting and now makes “strategic plans when it comes to my career. I’ve always made heavy choices, but before, it wasn’t always consciously”.

Jaime has just appeared in True Love, the BBC’s ground-breaking semi-improvised drama series by director Dominic Savage; five overlapping love stories set in Brighton. Jaime played Stella, who has an affair with a character played by Ashley Walters - So Solid Crew’s Asher D– and betrays him by running off with his money.

“I found it very shocking when I first read it,” she says. But she took the role partly on the strength of Savage’s involvement: they have known each other for a while. “He doesn’t sugar-coat anything, but he always manages to bring the beauty out in things that are disgusting or upsetting,” she says. “He’s seen me go through some things in my life. I think he thought maybe this was an opportunity for me to say…” – she sticks up two fingers – “… you,” she laughs. “Put it this way: it was a nice comeuppance!”

“It’s just what happens when people are blinded by love. People get hurt. I’ve certainly been on the receiving end of it, so I know aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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swimsuit Tavik SHORTS

Carmelita Couture, as before NECKLACE Leivankash EARRINGS Chanel, as before ACCESSORIES Liz Mendez Vintage, as before 60 | aMUSE

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make-up, hair and nails by holly silius, using products by estee lauder and kevin murphy; lashes by shimmer twins lashes; metal nails by h&h; photographer’s assistant andrew cryan; jewellery, unless otherwise specified, by lizmendezvintage.com

that you’re just left in despair,” she continues, possibly referring to the break-up of her relationship with Alfie Allen, son of Keith and brother of Lily, two years ago. “But I’ve always moved on, and I’ve always moved on very strong – you have to.”

Jaime grew up in north-west London, attending Enfield County School and later moving to Essex, where she went to Burnt Mill School and Harlow College. Following a spell flat-sharing with the model Daisy Lowe in Holland Park, she’s now settled in the east and counts Bethnal Green’s The Birdcage as her local. “I feel safe in London,” she says. “I just feel connected, I feel like this is where I belong. There’s so much going on creatively, especially in east London. I really buzz off that.”

She’s always had energy but, as she’s grown up, she’s learned to channel it into work as opposed to partying. “I think we’re all better people when we work,” she says. “When we don’t work, we tend to get in a little bit of trouble. When you’re 21, you’re kind of crazy and up and down. But then, you go, ‘Am I alright? Not really.’ Now I’m 26, I’m at a calmer stage in my life.”

But that doesn’t mean she’s not still always on the go: “I constantly need to be doing something. Mum [Elaine McCausland] and Dad say, ‘Oh, you need to chill out, you’ve just done three jobs back to back – take a month off!’ But then after a week I’m like, ‘I’m bored now.’”

Recent downtime for Jaime involves heading off to Ibiza for a fashion shoot, developing a script and shooting Devlin and Ed Sheeran’s new music video.

Indeed, there is a collaborative element to many of her interests – whether it be a fashion shoot or this year’s indie thriller Elfie Hopkins – which she developed with director Ryan Andrews, and in which she also starred. It even featured a cameo role from Ray – Britain’s favourite movie hardman, with roles spanning Nil By Mouth and Sexy Beast to Ben Hur and the remake of The Sweeney, set to hit cinemas in September.

His daughter’s wider circle includes stylist and night owl Liz Mendez, whose eponymous vintage jewellery line is stocked at Lily Allen and her sister Sarah Owen’s vintage shop, Lucy in Disguise, and who is also the brains behind stylish new club night, Show Pony; make-up artist and designer Holly Silius; and photographer Stefan Sieler, boyfriend of Jaime’s elder sister actress and singer Lois – “a very fierce fashion forward group” – with whom she

collaborated in Ibiza on our fashion story. This was shot in part at San Antonio’s Pikes Hotel, run by nightlife impresario Tony Pike, which was the location for Wham’s ‘Club Tropicana’ video.

Of the gang, she says, “They’ve changed the face of the club scene. It’s not like, ‘Waaay, let’s go party,’ it’s like, ‘Let’s spend three hours getting ready at Lucy in Disguise, dress up amazingly and dance.”

That’s the actress in her, but her love of dressing up isn’t limited to Show Pony’s glitter-fest. She recently shaved her head – not in a “Britney” way, but for her role as a military character in the third series of Mad Dogs (the comedy thriller starring John Simm that’s airing this autumn on Sky): “I wanted to be a blank canvas; I found it really liberating. I hate to get stuck in a routine of how I look.”

A style chameleon – she used to be a peroxide blonde, after all – fashion for Jaime is her “fun time”. Current favourite designers are Craig Lawrence, Katie Eary and jeweller Dominic Jones. “I just dress how I feel comfortable,” she says.

“Some days I just want to wear jeans and a baggy T-shirt; and then, the next day, I want to put on a little Chanel number and try and be a bit dainty; and then, some days I can be punky.”

Today, she’s gone for punky. Which means a graphic body-con dress from Topshop, those hardcore bovva boots – “They’re really comfortable” – and a Love Bullet pendant made by her friend Martin Jegede’s creative house, which transforms symbols of destruction into accessories and works of art. “Sophisticate punk, if you count the vintage Chanel earrings,” she laughs.

The next time you’ll see her, it’s going to be on the big screen in uwantmeto2killhim?, the true story of a teenage boy lured into murder on an internet chatroom, directed by The Amityville Horror’s Andrew Douglas and executive produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein. “It’s quite surreal; I get to play two different characters,” is all she will say, but she’s fizzing with excitement about the project: “I think it’s going to be really good.”

But as for the future, she’s taking nothing for granted. “It’s just about keeping my head fresh, staying healthy, happy and working,” she says. “I want to be around when I’m a lot older and to grow as an actress. You really have to put your work in, learn and listen.” a

‘Some days I just want to wear jeans and a baggy T-shirt; and the next day I put on a little Chanel number and try to be dainty’

aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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accessories SPECIAL

Vintage sunglasses, £151, Christian Dior Vintage (farfetch.com)

Tri-tone sunglasses, £325, Prada (selfridges.com)

White-frame sunglasses, £165, Heidi London (Harvey Nichols, 0845 604 1888)

Sunglasses, £507, Linda Farrow x Oscar de la Renta (lindafarrow.co.uk)

Oversized sunglasses, £235, Balenciaga (01423 520303)

Sunglasses, £200, Alexander McQueen (01423 520303)

Black sunglasses, £210, Yves Saint Laurent (01423 520303)

THE HOTTEST SHADES OF THE SEASON Fran Mullin takes her pick

Culte Sunglasses Carbone, £225, Miu Miu (020 7409 0900)

Purple sunglasses, £200, Marc Jacobs (01423 520303)

Square-frame sunglasses, £79, Max&Co (01423 520303)

Square-frame sunglasses, £237, Linda Farrow x The Row (lindafarrow.co.uk)

Yellow sunglasses, £115, MaxMara (01423 520303)

Covetable Crimson sunglasses, £150, Vintage Christian Dior by Retrosun (retrosun.co.uk)

Cat's eye sunglasses, £130, Vintage Paloma Picasso by Retrosun (retrosun.co.uk)

Cat's eye sunglasses, £136, Dolce & Gabbana (Luxottica.com)

ACNE S/S12 (LEXINGTONOPAL SUNGLASSES, £290, ACNE STUDIOS (020 7629 9374)

Two-tone sunglasses, £120, Marc by Marc Jacobs (01423 520303)

62 | AMUSE

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Liberty-print sunglasses, £130, Retrosuperfuture (liberty.com)

Cat's eye sunglasses, £237, Linda Farrow x Agent Provocateur (lindafarrow.co.uk)

MP-2 frame-clip sunglasses, £254, Oliver Peoples (020 7581 6336)

Amethyst sunglasses, £221, Tod's (stylebop.com)

Cable Temple sunglasses, £383, Maison Martin Margiela x Cutler and Gross (ln-cc.com)

Cat's eye sunglasses, £215, Alexander Wang (thecorner.com)

Columbo sunglasses, £205, Andy Wolf (eyerespect.com)

Colour-fade sunglasses, £18, Urban Outfitters (urbanoutfitters.co.uk)

Mesh sunglasses, £70, Henry Holland for Le Specs (exclusive to asos.com)

Sunglasses, £79, Boss Orange by Hugo Boss (01423 520303)

Round-frame acetate sunglasses, £225, Yves Saint Laurent (net-a-porter.com)

Sunglasses, £329, Linda Farrow x Kris Van Assche (lindafarrow.co.uk)

Hercule Poirot sunglsses, £325, Andy Wolf (eyerespect.com)

Hand-made sunglasses, £70, Mauricio Stein for ASOS (asos.com)

Striped-frame sunglasses, £25.99, Persol (luxottica.com)

New York sunglasses, £245, Prism (avenue32.com)

Ivory-horn sunglasses, £269, Lanvin (matchesfashion.com)

Leather-trim sunglasses, £178, Ray-Ban (luxottica.com)

Platonny sunglasses, £275, Thierry Lasry (matchesfashion.com)

Round sunglasses, £80, Michael Kors (0800 722020)

Pink sunglasses, £595, Finest Seven, (finestseven.com) AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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Rockstar Denim Jeans, Missoni Wedges, (Prices 30-70% off)

O

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ur new fashion obsession Secretsales. com is celebrating Summer with a riot of colour! Beautiful pastels to complement candy-coloured pedicures with a StTropez tan. Rockstar Denim and trendy menswear from Alan Paine Collection are on the hot list for their coloured trousers ranging from pink to green and every colour in between. With one click designer clothes can be found at an incredible 30-70% off ! But you have to be quick on the draw,

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as customers have only four days to snap up these deals, which range from high street to high end fashion, including Marc Jacobs, Hype and Missoni shoes.

Register for free at Secretsales.com, where you can shop for top brands and still have money left for the weekend!

Extra 10% off when you register at secretsales.com/ amuse and enter AMUSE10 at checkout.

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Hype Jumpsuit, Alan Paine Jean Shirt, Humor Chinos, (Prices 30-70% off)

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19/6/12 13:40:03

trends

5 6

4 7 8

3 9

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1

11

Brights club

12

NICOLE FARHI S/S 12

Demure is anything but dull thanks to summer’s hot hues, says Fran Mullin

15 17

12 14 16

13

1. Rose gold gem earrings, £315, Mawi (avenue32.com) 2. Tweed trousers, £390, 3.1 Phillip Lim (my-wardrobe.com) 3. Benj bangle, £203, Dannijo (kabiri.co.uk) 4. Rhode Island silk top, £143, Stefen Schraut (stylebop.com) 5. Yellow satchel, £74, Cambridge Satchel Company (cambridgesatchel.co.uk) 6. Stripe sun hat, £15, River Island (riverisland.com) 7. Twisted Sister belt, £35, French Connection (frenchconnection.com) 8. Layered skirt, £1,390, Marc by Marc Jacobs (brownsfashion.com) 9.

Neon necklace, £15.99, Zara (zara.com) 10. Ann dress, £32, Monki (monki.com) 11. Rafiya swimsuit, £370, Roksanda Ilincic (avenue32.com) 12. Yellow sandals, £55, River Island (riverisland.com) 13. Afra coat, £1,200, MaxMara (matchesfashion.com) 14. Pink tote, £35, United Colours of Benetton (08456 781810) 15. Kia skirt, £17, Monki (monki.com) 16. Slingback sandals, £795, Nicholas Kirkwoood (net-a-porter.com) 17. Cutaway silk skirt, £470, Emilio de la Morena (avenue32.com)

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4

trends

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Print princess

Splashy flowers, ferns, birds and even vegetables – there’s nothing demure about these patterns, says Fran Mullin

11 CAROLINA HERRERA SS12

14 15

1314

12

1. Bird-print shorts, £40, Oasis (oasis-stores.com) 2. Pepper-print bag, £615, Dolce & Gabbana (luisaviaroma.com) 3. Floralprint trousers, £39.99, Zara (zara.com) 4. Green tropical-print cotton shorts, £324, Dries Van Noten (liberty.co.uk) 5. Red coral cuff, £159, Kenneth Jay Lane (kabiri.co.uk) 6. Printed cotton-blend dress, £725, Oscar de la Renta (net-a-porter.com) 7. Rosine printed silk shrug, £850, Temperley London (net-a-porter.com) 8. Printed dress, £34.99, Mango (mango.com) 9. Serpent earrings, £18,700, Lydia Courteille (brownsfashion.com) 10. Serpent heels, £744.99, Giuseppe Zanotti (luisaviaroma.com) 11. Floral-print dress, £798, No.21 (matchesfashion.com) 12. Floral shirt dress, £39.95, H&M (hm.com/gb/) 13. Women’s black punk belt, £233, Haider Ackermann (ln-cc.com) 14. Printed dress, £1,290, Erdem (brownsfashion.com) 15. Pleated dress, £1,310, Rue Du Mail (thecorner.com)

AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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trends

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Tourist attraction

Do your sightseeing in style with an ethnic twist, says Fran Mullin

BURBERRY PRORSUM S/S 12

10

15

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15

12

14 1. Sequin earrings, £57, Swarovski Crystallized (swarovski-crystallized.com) 2. Striped skirt, £690, Proenza Schouler (brownsfashion.com) 3. Belt, £12, Monki (monki.com) 4. Ipanema clutch, £375, Anya Hindmarch (stylebop.com) 5. Vanni jacket, £675, Jonathan Saunders (matchesfashion.com) 6. Jacket, £39.99, H&M (hm.com:gb) 7. Jacquard-print scarf, £31, Cos (cosstores.com) 8. Patterned knit dress, £559, Missoni M (stylebop.com) 9. Shorts, £390, 3.1 Phillip Lim (brownsfashion. com) 10. X Alexandre Birman Wood Wrap sandals, £777, Pedro Lourenco (ln-cc.com) 11. Sunbury dress, £239, Steffen Schraut (stylebop.com) 12. Military green top, £1,050, Felicity Brown (thecorner.com) 13. Shoulder bag, £990, Prada (020 7647 5000) 14. Chagall shoes, £275, Paul Smith (paulsmith.co.uk) 15. Printed T-shirt, £20, ASOS (asos.com)

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trends

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Shore things

A picnic on a windy beach doesn’t have to be a style-free occasion says Fran Mullin

MARGARET HOWELL S/S12

12

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1. Belted shorts, £172, Marc by Marc Jacobs (stylebop.com) 2. Ripple Sole Derby shoes, £330, Hiroshi Tsubouchi (ln-cc. com) 3. Fouta towel, £27, Babooshe (babooshe.com) 4. Steffi jacket, £36, Monki (monki.com) 5. Leather tote, £1,285.52, Salvatore Ferragamo (luisaviaroma.com) 6. Straw hat, £188, Anya Hindmarch (stylebop.com) 7. Chiffon shirt, £665, Boudicca (avenue32.com) 8. Leather ankle boots, £690, Chloé (net-a-porter.com) 9. Scarf, £130, Eric Bompard (eric-bompard.com) 10.

Paisley skirt, £650, Jil Sander (brownsfashion.com) 11. Two-tone jumper, £2,210, Rodarte (thecorner.com) 12. Pearl earrings, £33.50, Just Pearl at BrandAlley (brandalley.co.uk) 13. Striped dress, £280, Boy By Band of Outsiders (net-a-porter.com) 14.

Leather sandals, £72, Cos (cosstores.com) 15. Printed maxi dress, £935, Paul Smith (paulsmith.co.uk) 16. Short dress, £195, Andrea Incontri (thecorner.com) 17. Funky Flowers earclips, £108, Kenneth Jay Lane at Swarovski Crystallized (swarovskicrystallized.com) 18. High-rise trousers, £195, MHL by Margaret Howell (liberty.co.uk)

70 | AMUSE

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‘The Art Fund’ is the trading name of the National Art Collections Fund, a charity registered in England and Wales (209174) and Scotland (SC038331). The National ArtPass is issued to Art Fund members, subscriptions start from £50.

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www.goodwood.com Terms & Conditions: Competition prize is subject to availability. By entering this competition you agree to have your email address shared between aMUSE Media and Goodwood.You will be able to unsubscribe for any future mailings. For a full set of terms & conditions please see amusemagazine.co.uk

A

DAVID BECKHAM BODYWEAR FOR H&M. PHOTOGRAPHER: ALASDAIR MCLELLAN

T

m a n

a b o u t

NICK COX

t o w n

The war of man against follicle is getting ugly

here’s a war being waged behind closed doors, and it’s reducing grown men to quivering blubber. It is man versus body hair. The trend may have started with divers and swimmers looking to reduce their drag, but now even the most land-locked mortals are taking their courage in their hands and their excess hair to the salon. British troops are being threaded in Afghanistan, tattooed blokes are body-shaving and city gents are being torched at the barber shop.

Of course, David Beckham (right) is the poster boy for this new generation of hypergroomers. His perfect brow and smooth, muscle-bound chest loom at us from giant billboards and are inspiring even the most unlikely of men to become hard and hairless. Gorilla grooming has arrived.

It’s taking no prisoners and why should it? No-one ever said the change from hobbit to hottie would be easy.

First, what to avoid: do not fiddle at home as this can have disastrous consequences. On the continent, Italian men have over-plucked so severely they’re left with the brows of Bette Davis and a permanent air of surprise.

No grazie. Conquering unwanted hair takes commitment, kit and the occasional visit to a professional.

There is a growing range of thatch-busting treatments available in London which can tackle even the most luxuriant of pelts. For the brows, threading is gaining ground over tweezers, according to Shavata Singh, founder of the Shavata Brow Studio at the Urban Retreat at Harrods. She is seeing an increasing number of browbeaten men coming to her to have their eyebrows trapped between a twisted double thread of cotton, which will remove it “rapidly and with precision”. She says it can “make guys look younger in just fifteen minutes”.

And it’s by no means just the monobrow that’s rapidly retreating. Hairy handshakes no longer seal deals, so Debenhams now Deborah Gail has seen her hair-removal treatments offers knuckle threading at Benito’s Brow Bar. Silky, girlish fingers are become so popular that at any one time she has half a not the aim: this treatment, they say, is for “taming wild growth, not dozen dextrous professionals on hand to grapple with feminising”. And while we’re discussing wild growth, ear hair’s also, quite men’s tackle. They treat men of “all ages, occupations and literally, under fire. Ear singeing is now seeing a marked rise in popularity. sexual orientations” and offer five options, which range Adrenaline junkies at the hairdresser’s will relish the moment when a lit from the bikini wax (tidying up the edges), via the Mercury taper approaches their hirsute lobes, there’s a wax (fur-free buttocks) to the bare-all Galaxy. It’s quick fizzing sound, a burst of heat and the sides WHO SAID this option that is really gaining ground, says Andy of their head are left smouldering like a field after THE CHANGE Rouillard, the UK’s leading male waxing expert. harvest. It’s dramatic and addictive. If you’re man FROM HOBBIT Trimming to look bigger or throw more light enough to ask, it’s available at Geo. F. Trumper on the subject? Waxing for increased hygiene or TO HOTTIE and Ted’s Grooming Rooms as part of a haircut sensitivity in the bedroom? Such is the range of WAS EASY? and for no additional cost. Don’t even think about treatments now on offer that, like a finely tailored trying this at home: hair products are flammable and you may end up in suit, a gentleman can choose where he would like his hair casualty, looking like a wickless man-candle. removed; above, below, under, all off? Confident guys are One of the trickiest areas to tackle is “fun fur” – those parts of a man’s even jazzing up their man-jangles at NKD Waxing for a body that are more seldom seen, but are nevertheless vitally important. shaping, colour or stencil of their choice… But not me.

In discreet Mayfair grooming salon, The Refinery, business is booming.

I’m just as attached to my body hair as it is to me.

AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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Awarded the Best Anti-Ageing Miracle Cream in the UK *.

Divine Cream In the heart of Corsica, L’OCCITANE has discovered two natural treasures of longevity with extraordinary anti-ageing benefits. Organic Immortelle essential oil boosts collagen production, redefines facial contours and brightens the complexion.† Myrtle regenerates and stimulates cells.† The combination of these ingredients is at the heart of this exceptional anti-ageing cream.

Its formula leaves skin more luminous, smoother and glowing with youth.

3 patents registered. †Effectiveness tested on 50 women over a 4 week period: the skin is immediately more radiant (87%) and luminous (94%), smoother (94%) and revitalised (87%).

*Voted the highest rated Anti-Ageing ‘Miracle’ Cream by the 2011 Anti-ageing Beauty Bible panel.

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19/06/2012 11:26:51

U n n a t u r a l

b e a u t y

bethAn cole

The beauty of flowers

W

e all know that nebulous claims that a brand is “natural” are just that: nebulous. The label can refer to as little as 1% plant ingredient If you’re serious about plant matter in your skincare, the first place you should look is the ingredients list. If abstruse Latinate foliage names dominate the upper reaches of the ingredients, then you can safely say that botanical claims are substantiated. The further up the list a name appears, the more there is in it. However, if said extracts are merely an adjunct to a string of chemicals, right at the bottom, then you can assume that plant matter has merely been wafted over the formulation as an afterthought.

If it were possible to create an informal, modern Linnaean taxonomy of botanical skincare ingredients, then flowers would top the list. Skincare has long looked to plants for healing extracts, all the way back to the medieval medicinal physic garden. Herbaria or arboreta are now places where skincare ingredients proliferate. Certain brands – Clarins, Darphin and Decléor to name three – base much of their practice on extracting plant matter and deploying it in their formulations. And it’s the medicinal and healing properties of plants (and, notably, flowers) that are at the centre of some of the latest developments in skincare preparations.

There’s a general misconception that, where skincare is concerned, botanicals and hi-tech chemicals are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Somehow, the addition of plant extracts signifies a kind of retrograde, apothecary, Mother Earth approach, in opposition to products such as, say, Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair, which uses super-futuristic lab-generated synthetics. But, Chanel Hydra Beauty Sérum, chanel.com ‘it’s the medicinal actually, plants and even flowers can be far more than decorative and soothing in their and healing properties: the latest trend is for the brands into a cream that stimulates the production properties of that offer the most advanced sci-fi formulations of lipids (and, thus, moisture) in the skin. plants that are at Essential Herbology is another brand to to look to flowers as well. the centre of the use flowers in its hydrators: Botanical Body Witness Lancôme’s latest “miracle” serum, Visionnaire. The key ingredient in Visionnaire Repair contains jasmine and frangipani to latest skincare is LR2412, which is derived from jasmonic nourish and also to scent, while its Cool and developments’ acid – a repairing molecule found in plants Clear cleanser refreshes and soothes with and, in this case – more specifically – jasmine. And yet, this serum is on the lavender, aloe vera and waterlily flower. I’ve tried these superhighway of skincare technology – some kind of Heath Robinson, products and they really are very good. Ditto Michelle Roques pestle-and-mortar cottage garden preparation it is not.

O’Neil’s new range, Therapie. In all my years as a beauty Chanel, too, which has always been very firmly in the techno-skincare editor, Roques O’Neil is probably one of the most gifted camp, is also wielding botanical extracts this year: not only does its new therapists I have ever encountered and her new products Hydra Beauty Cream have a wonderfully aerated, weightless, whipped-soufflé have all the integrity you might expect: the very first ingredient texture, but its USP is the inclusion of camellia alba extracts – which also listed in the Cherish Skin Repair Serum is rosehipseed happened to be Coco Chanel’s favourite flowers – serving as a sometime oil or rosa canina. Now, not many “botanical” ranges can emblem for the brand. The flower’s hydrating properties are siphoned boast that. aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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THIS IS WHAT YOUNGER LOOKING SKIN LOOKS LIKE

CLINICALLY PROVEN TO REDUCE LINES AND WRINKLES*

Strength Within Anti-wrinkle Supplement.

Designed to work from the inside out.

Visit dovespa.co.uk to find out more.

Real Beauty from Real Care

*Clinical test vs. placebo control involving 164 women over a period of 14 weeks.

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Beauty News THE AT-HOME FACELIFT Top London facialist Sarah

3

OF THE BEST....

EXFOLIATORS How to slough away dry, tired skin and emerge from the shower with glowing limbs ILA Body Scrub For A Blissful Experience, £63, ila-spa.com One for… total zen after a long day at work. An indulgent blend of damascena rose otto, jasmine and rosehip seed oil, with Himalayan salt crystals providing the exfoliating element.

TOM FORD Neroli Portofino Body Scrub, £50, selfridges.com One for… prepping your skin for the yacht, dahling. The classic Tom Ford cologne scent has been combined with olive fruit oil, grape seed oil and date seed extract, to create a truly Mediterranean mix.

SHIFFA Basil And Mint Body Scrub, £55, Urban Retreat at Harrods, 020 7893 8333 One for… early morning sleepy-heads. The peppermint has serious zing and cools you down, while the almond oil hydrates and smoothes your skin.

Chapman already has a hugely popular skincare line in Skinesis.

Not content with that, she has launched her Clinic Collection.

As the name suggests, it was born from her desire to create a line of products that were spa-strength and drew upon formulations that she used in her own treatments. The latest addition to the line is the Chin and Jaw Lift: £38 for six plantcollagen and hyaluronic acidinfused elastic masks which you stretch over the lower half of your face, then hook around your ears, thus ‘lifting’ your face. Genius. sarahchapman.net; spacenk.co.uk

DESERT ORCHID For summer, Bobbi Brown has launched the Desert Twilight collection, a range of soft, sunswept nudes and pinks, with pops of turquoise evoking the early evening sky. The eye palette (above), £26, is a particular stand-out, with eight nude, pink and chocolate shades – all you need to create a softly defined eye. There’s also a bronzer and blusher duo in Bahama Brown and Pink Peony (above right), £48, perfect for recreating your own dusty desert look. bobbibrown.co.uk, 0870 034 2566.

TRY ME…

What: Kaffir Lime Reinvigorating Ritual For: smooth skin and a clear head Where: Ushvani day spa What it’s like: Ushvani provides an extremely unexpected spot of equatorial luxury round the corner from Sloane Square. Its dark wood, exotic flowers and tropical heat waft you far away from SW3. The exfoliation with kaffir lime and sugar is dramatically invigorating – the scrub smells fresh and leaves skin feeling polished and smooth. Once you’re scrubbed, you pour warm coconut milk over your limbs to soften them and then the therapist massages your back, neck, feet and stomach with coconut and hibiscus oil.

Authentic, exotic and addictive. £180 for 90 minutes, ushvani.com

READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP? Admittedly, beauty products get more hi-tech every day, but who

could have predicted Fujifilm’s arrival in the premium skincare market?

Astalift is the brand and its hero product is Jelly Aquarista, £69. It’s a cooling jelly that absorbs brilliantly and leaves your skin plumped and luminous. Picture perfect, in fact. selfridges.com

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Rather incongruously located in the basement of London’s Superdry flagship, Tommy Guns’ Regent Street salon is quite the most beautiful hair salon we’ve seen. It comes with a serious pedigree, having been the original barber shop designed and built by Percy Westwood and Joseph Emberton within the then-Austin Reed store in 1929. Tommy Guns has stayed entirely loyal to its art deco heritage and many of the original fi xtures remain: marble floors, chrome fittings and vintage barbers chairs abound. There’s also a Sophy Robson Nailporn bar and Lash Perfect eyelashes. It’s cool, calm and very un-Regent Street.

Women’s cut and finish from £49.95. Lower Ground Floor at Superdry, 103/113 Regent Street, London, W1B 4HL. Contact: 020 7734 5700; tommyguns.com AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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Beauty PIXI LIP BLUSH IN ENERGY, £12.50

MAC CREMEBLEND BLUSH IN SO SWEET, SO EASY, £17.50

SHU UEMURA EYESHADOW IN SOFT PURPLE, £11

BOBBI BROWN EYESHADOW IN LIGHT GOLDEN PEACH, £15.50

NARS LIPGLOSS IN BORN THIS WAY, £17.50

NARS NAIL POLISH IN AMCHOOR AND KUTKI, £14 EACH

TOPSHOP LIPSTICK IN TEASE, £8

Trowel on the watermelons, jades and yellows for a summer make-up look that’s anything but subtle, says Arabella Preston

T

here are some summer days when only a slick of pale aqua liner and soft pink blush will do. But this season’s pastels are no wishy washy watercolours. Rather they are bold, bright and chalky, to be applied with confidence and, just this once, a heavy hand.

The current Louis Vuitton campaign showcases this trend to perfection: Pepto-Bismol-pink backdrops with mint green, blues and bright yellows popping off the page. At London’s hottest spring/summer show, Meadham Kirchhoff, make-up artist Florrie White created a series of fabulously bonkers looks in brilliantly bright pastels (above). Inspiration came on one hand from the 90s supermodels (Christy, Linda et al) and their sculpted, contoured cheekbones and lined lips, and on the other from the weird and wonderful world of Leigh Bowery and drag queens Trojan and Divine. By the time the last girls filed out they were the “superfreaks – a fantastical amalgamation of both looks,” says White.

MAC Pro products were used to create most of the looks but White also spent a day “trawling through beauty stores in Brixton, buying up cans of spray glitter, metallic eyelashes and any fluoro make-up I could lay my hands on.”

Coming back down to earth, for everyday wear White says: “If you can perfect your skin and base, you can play with make-up and colour.

With pastels, try a block of colour over and around your top and bottom eyelashes, blended up softly and away to nothing at the brow. Lilac works well with most eye colours, and you can soften the look if you want by smudging chocolate brown eyeliner into the mascara-ed lashes. Or make a statement with a bold full lip and clean make-up everywhere else.”

LAURA MERCIER SHEER CREME EYE COLOUR IN AQUA PASTEL, £16.50

LEFT: INIKA VEGAN LIP WHIP IN MELON, £9. BELOW: INIKA MINERAL EYESHADOW IN PEACH FETISH, CANDY MINT AND GREEN LAGOON, £7 EACH

TRY ME…

for: Jazzing up your nails what: Manicure/nail art where: Sophy Robson at Haris Salon, 233 Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3 5EJ what is it like?: Jessie J, Gwen Stefani and Kylie have visited her.

Now, its the turn of aMUSE to indulge in fingernail fun – the perfect instant-pick-me-up summer beauty treat. After handing me a lovely detoxing smoothie from the Haris bar, Sharon gave my (decidedly unloved) nails a thorough tidy before adorning them with seriously pretty candy stripes in several colours (kind of a beach hut/deckchair effect, but it made me smile a lot). My nails have never looked so pretty, or stayed that way for so long – it was at least a week before they even began to chip.

Contact: 020 7349 8722, £32 for 30 mins

IMAGE COURTESY OF MAC COSMETICS

POWER PASTELS

MAC POWERPOINT EYE PENCIL IN SO THERE JADE, £14

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Size does matter.

Mavala’s iconic 5ml nail polishes are the perfect size to ensure no wastage. With a colour spectrum of over 200 shades and unique formula, Mavala nail polishes guarantee long lasting and professional quality.

www.mavala.co.uk -

For more information visit: @mavalauk - info@mavala.co.uk - T:01732 459 412 Available at Leading Beauty Retailers.

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Beauty PERCY & REED TEXTURISING SPRAY, £14

JO HANSFORD LEAVEIN CONDITIONER, £17

BABYLISS WAVE ENVY TONGS, £37.49

TIGI HEAT AND HUMIDITY RESISTANT SERUM, £11

KIEHL’S DEEPLY RESTORATIVE SMOOTHING HAIR OIL CONCENTRATE, £18

BEACH HAIR

Windswept, sun-kissed locks without the damage? No problem says Arabella Preston

S

un, salt and sea air can leave holiday hair looking more Worzel Gummidge than catwalk. Worse than that, this devilish trio can wreak irreversible damage to your locks. Protect your hair as you would your skin with the new generation of sun shields and heat-protective serums.

You can then simulate beach hair with salt and texture sprays that give you the look without the damage. For those blessed with poker-straight tresses, a blast with Babyliss Wave Envy tongs will transform you into a wavy-haired siren in minutes.

BUMBLE & BUMBLE SURF SPRAY, £19.50

JOICO BEACH TEXTURE SPRAY, £10.95

JOHN FRIEDA SHEER BLONDE LIGHTENING SPRAY, £6.99

TRY ME…

RICHARD WARD SUN SHIELD, £27 (PART OF SET)

For: Dry, damaged hair What: KeraStraight Protein Mask Where: Trevor Sorbie Covent Garden Who: Petros Mairoudhiou What it’s like: Petros is known as the ‘King of the Brazilian’. Blow-dry, that is. But

given that a full-on straightening treatment isn’t suitable for all hair types or time constraints, Trevor Sorbie has launched a lunch-hour-friendly one-hour treatment using KeraStraight’s heat-activated Protein Mask. The mask is applied to wet hair, then roughly blow-dried for 20 minutes to activate. Your hair is then rinsed and given a beautiful, glossy blow-dry.

Results: My bleached-out hair felt thicker, healthier and more full of swing than it has done in a long while. The effects lasted well into the following week and through subsequent washes.

Contact: From £55, Trevor Sorbie, 27 Floral Street, Covent Garden WC2E 9DP Tel: 0844 445 6901; kerastraight.com 80 | AMUSE

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14 DAYS TO FITNESS Olivia Inge is a top model who’s walked for Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford and Vivienne Westwood and been shot by Mario Testino and David Bailey. But when she hit her 30s, her jeans stopped fitting. So can she get back in shape – and back in her denim – in time for the summer?

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beaded tulle dress, ÂŁ2211, Alberta Ferretti, 020 7235 2349 aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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B

efore I accepted this challenge, my attitude to fitness was this: I didn’t do gyms and I certainly didn’t run anywhere, except if I was late. My body could be described as lanky, like a fourteen-year-old boy with tits and a bit of a tummy. In the past, I’ve got away with not exercising and still stayed lean thanks to my genes, small portions, an active job and lots of beauty products.

But, while I’m delighted to be 31, I have noticed a shift in my appearance. My favourite jeans have become increasingly tight.

I’ve always found that this is the best way to monitor any changes – far more sympathetic than scales. And these were signs I couldn’t ignore: my thighs kissed with every step and, even worse, I could no longer fit into my sample-sized Alexander McQueen tops.

Along with giving up smoking, I wanted to tone up my body; but I couldn’t get my head around how to do it. I hated gyms (did I mention that?) and couldn’t find an alternative I felt would work.

Time to trial the Body Renewal Program at the Agua Spa in the Sanderson Hotel. The science behind the program is simple but effective – and a lot kinder to the soul than a humourless boot camp, undertaken in full view of giggling tourists in Green Park.

Admittedly, there are muscle-whipping gym sessions, but these are more than made up for by massages and facials and, when you factor in the healthy food, you’re getting a total body upgrade which delivers great skin, toned muscles and a glowing, stress-free aura. The end result should be a body I would be happy to bare on the beach. But was I ready for the commitment?

WEEK ONE Tuesday It all begins with a consultation with my trainer, Jamie Baird. He asks me to pinpoint the areas I’d like to concentrate on. I point to my butt and abs. So Jamie devises a bespoke workout that will include a series of 45-minute sessions that fuse cardio with strength training, resistance and plyometrics (a technique developed by Soviet trainers for their Olympic athletes – not a comforting prospect). This is the kind of workout Rihanna does, only hers lasts 25 mins… Slacker.

But first, ye gods, he has to take all (all!) of my measurements: Height: 6 feet Shoulders: 40 inches Bust: 34.75 inches Waist: 29.75 inches Belly Button: 33.50 inches Hips: 37.50 inches Top Leg: 21.50 inches Top Arm: 9.75 inches Weight: 9.5 stone Fat: 30.5% I haven’t been measured since my catwalking days and, surprise, surprise, over time they have, shall we say, matured. If I were to turn up at a casting with Karl Lagerfeld, I would be marched out of the building with a blanket over my head like a criminal on trial for possession of fat. Jamie has announced, and I’m still trying to digest the information, that my body is made up of ONE THIRD FAT. I strap on a heart monitor and drag myself onto a running machine for 12 minutes. After six minutes, my arms are aching, I

am sweating and apparently showing signs that I need to run faster.

Eventually, Jamie lets me step off, which I do as shakily as Bambi.

He measures my blood pressure and resting heartbeat.

Jamie does a few sums and announces that I am “average” in terms of recovery and fitness. I am flabbergasted. That is only two up from the bottom. He reckons that, in four weeks, I will rise above average. I only hope he’s right.

Still with that fat stat in mind, I order a Superfood Smoothie from the spa and contemplate eating tissue paper for the rest of the month.

Wednesday It is one day later and I’ve just warmed up on the treadmill before exercises involving a medicine ball, squats, more squats and lunge walking interspersed with side-bends. On and on it goes. And then we start the workout.

Kettle-bell swings, squats, clean and press, burpees, three quarter press-ups and squat thrusts are followed by star jumps, medicineball squats, T-press-ups, vertical jumps and lunges.

Then we finish with abdominal work. The kind that leaves you blinded with intense pain and a need to curl up into a ball and stay there.

Variations on this theme will fill my calendar for the next 24 days.

As time trickles by, I find myself breaking through the pain barrier and tuning in to the mechanics of my limbs.

It’s finally over. I am lobster-red, pouring with sweat and I ache.

After a shower, I head for a private pod, where my first meal awaits me.

The beauty of this program is that, after a shower or dip in the sauna, you flop into one of the opulent private booths that feel like first-class cabins. I lie in a state of bliss and exhaustion and await my feed like an animal in the zoo.

I opt for the “Radiance Menu”, a delicious Devonshire crab served with seaweed salad and spirulina, washed down with a smoothie containing lettuce, cucumber and apple, laced with evening primrose, flax seed and pumpkin oils.

I must keep a food diary over the next week. Excellent first entry.

Friday My legs are stiff, my left knee is playing up and stairs fill me with dread – which is a pain when you live on the fifth floor with no lift. And yet I must hurry to Jamie for session two.

Jamie has no time to chat. We go straight to the stair machine for 10 minutes of warm-up cardio, swiftly followed by the exercises which send my heart racing to173 beats per minute. I leave the

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gym pink and sweaty, but happy, and spend 10 minutes in the sauna.

I order the antioxidant menu – grape and cucumber gazpacho soup with rosehip oil-toasted almonds and Chinese rose sprouts.

Which tastes as good as it reads.

I decide on a cellulite-reduction smoothie with orange, dandelion, lemon and pineapple. My grandmother used to feed her dogs with a garnish of dandelion. My granny’s dogs never got cellulite.

After lunch, it’s time for reflexology with Jac Kneebone. As she prods my feet I can feel pangs of energy shooting up my legs, taking SOS messages to my kidneys.

WEEK TWO Monday Over the weekend, I drink rather a lot of cider – I was in Zomerzet after all – and now I must pay. I feel slightly nauseous as I’m put

through my paces.

I’ve had feedback from Jac which I discuss with Jamie. The beauty of this programme is that I have so many teachers and therapists on hand to explain what my body’s doing and how it works.

Tuesday Hot stone massage today with Matthew Kelly, who has magic hands. I choose the floral “equilibrium” oil from Aromatherapy Associates to help soothe my PMT. I’ve noticed a change in my thought patterns. I don’t want to feed my body anything that compromises it. I can do without eating crisps if I replace them with nuts. And I discover that almonds taste a bit like chocolate when you mix them with dried sultanas. A run in the park need only take 20 mins out of my day. I will always love aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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beaded tulle slip dress, ÂŁ2610, Alberta Ferretti, 020 7235 2349.

Photographs by Dieter Brandenburg; Hair and Make-up by Erika De La Barquera; styling by fran mullin

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‘If I were to turn up at a casting with Karl Lagerfeld, I would be marched out of the building with a blanket over my head like a criminal on trial for possession of fat’ good Champagne and great cider, but if I can drink more slowly and stick to a couple of nights a week, I’ll be happy.

Wednesday I hand in my food diary to Jamie, who tells me to stay away from crisps, chocolate and packaged food. He is shocked at my Sunday menu, which consisted of cider for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Nowt wrong with that in my book, as good cider is packed with antioxidants. But when he points out that I have drunk on five nights out of seven, I feel a little remorseful.

Jamie is concerned about my left knee. He goes on a mission to find my left vastus medialis oblique muscle (VMO), as it is missing in action. I sit on the leg extension machine and perform 15-degree weight lifts with my left leg. It doesn’t fire. Jamie says this is because it has been dormant for so long – “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” he says.

All this new exercise is forcing the other quads to compensate by working harder: they are pulling my knee-cap over with their brute force. We (I mean Jamie) must formulate a plan of attack for the VMO.

Thursday I have a breakfast of fruit kebab and panacotta at the spa before my Natura Bisse Ceuticals facial. The two things I loved most about this facial were, firstly, the therma cushion – a water-bed-type pillow placed under your back and filled with warm water – and, secondly, how soft my skin felt afterwards.

Friday My VMO appears to be firing at last due to the isolation exercises we’ve been working on. All systems are go and the pain is reduced.

After a lunch of avocado and watermelon salad with alfalfa sprouts and hemp seed oil, it’s reflexology, part deux. This time with Lydia Ferguson.

Her routine is flawless and I am left in a state of glee.

Wednesday Jamie is now insisting that I have no sugar (even fruit) and no alcohol.

After my workout, I have a Citrus Boost Body Polish and then a Citrus Appeal Facial with Natura Blisse products. The USP of this is the 100% pure Vitamin C boost. Afterwards, my skin feels and looks as though I’ve had hyaluronic acid injections but I, smugly, have been plumped without a needle in sight.

Thursday I go for a deep tissue massage in which Matthew loosens about six knots on my shoulders and back. I feel more balanced when I get up.

At last! Friends comment on how well I am looking and make -up artists have started to coo over my glowing skin.

Friday Ray Kelly takes over my training while Jamie has a well-earned holiday. Ray’s background is in sports injury. I’ve seen him massaging his clients on their warm-down but, after our session, Ray goes to town on the muscle that stretches from my outer knee up my leg with a physio stick. I have never endured such excruciating pain, ever, and have to muffle my animal sounds into my towel. He then shows me how to roll myself on a “grid foam roller” to free up any tightness in this long muscle. Again, the pain is unbelievable but, when I stand up, I am transformed. As soon as I get home, I order one from Amazon.

WEEK FOUR Tuesday Sea salt, honey and sesame seed rub today. This evening, my boyfriend says, “You’re legs are so smooth, like a dolphin’s belly”.

I am lost for words.

Wednesday Today is my second and last session with Ray. I feel fitter today and he says I’m doing well, which makes me glow with pride. So why do the stairs leading up to my flat still leave me short of breath?

Today’s treatments are an aromatherapy massage followed by an Eve Lom facial with Lydia. This is the best facial I’ve ever had in a spa. Afterwards I’ve no blackheads and no need for foundation.

Friday I have the fear in me as I briskly make my way to The Sanderson.

I am heading straight for the sauna so I can sweat centimetrechanging droplets of water out of my system before I’m measured.

I shower, stretch my neck and make my way down the dreamy white-curtained lanes from the lockers to the gym. Jamie and I exchange pleasantries. I take my shoes and socks off and step onto the weighing machine.

I close my eyes.

Hoorah. I am two pounds lighter at 134.4lbs; not dramatic, but this wasn’t really about weight loss but about shape change.

Shoulders: 39.50 inches (-0.50) Chest: 34.25 inches (-0.50) Waist: 27.50 inches (-2.25) Belly Button: 31 inches (-2.50) Hips: 37 inches (-0.50) Even better, I can talk while climbing the stairs, that midafternoon lull is easily shaken off with the help of a herbal tea, my sweat is less pungent thanks to a cleansed system, my jeans fit and I will continue with the fitness program. Though I might reduce it from 45 minutes to 25. If it’s good enough for Rihanna...

Body Renewal School at the Agua Spa at the Sanderson Hotel, £3100 at sandersonlondon.com. Olivia Inge is an Ambassador for cultbeauty.co.uk, an independent beauty shop where every product is chosen solely for its effectiveness. aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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the diary of a

drinker Drunk at 14, an alcoholic in her twenties and, finally, sober by the age of 30, Lucy Fry charts her difficult, destructive love affair with the bottle

“M

y name is Lucy and I’m an alcoholic.” How did I end up here, I wondered, sitting on a creaky wooden chair in the side room of a nursery school that transforms at night into a meeting room for Alcoholics Anonymous?

Like many, I began drinking at around 14, moving quickly from peach schnapps and cider to the more sophisticated wine and gin and tonic. As a seemingly confident, capable adolescent who, in actual fact, was crippled by an overwhelming self-consciousness and fear, I learnt quickly about the mind-altering effects of booze.

Here was something which, when sipped (or ideally gulped), could make me feel a sense of belonging that I usually had to fake. Here was a drug so powerful that it actually made me feel more attractive, interesting and funny. Here was, quite simply, the answer.

By the time I was 16, I would go to the pub and get drunk with friends on a Saturday evening and was well acquainted with all of the effects of alcohol, including the physical exhaustion and mental despair of the hangover. Looking back I can see that this marked me out from friends who would recover quickly from the night before, usually by oversleeping and giggling about whatever hi-jinks had occurred.

But for me, right from the very first hangover the morning after drinking Champagne through a straw at my sister’s 21st birthday party (I was 14), there was shame, self-hatred and guilt. By the

time I was 17, I had already begun to fantasise about, and dread, a life in which I never drank; in which I never again had to experience the exhausting melancholy of the day after getting drunk.

As I grew up, I surrounded myself with drinkers who thought nothing of having four pints on a Monday night or driving home still drunk on a Sunday morning after endless shots of sambuca and two hours’ sleep. I watched as others continued to enjoy this lifestyle without any self-flagellation, while my standards began to slip, almost as quickly as I could redefine them.

I’ll never drink alone, I’d promised myself at 20, and yet by 24, I regularly rewarded myself of an evening with an entire bottle of Merlot. OK, I’m allowed to drink alone, I thought, but I’ll never be verbally abusive when under the influence. By 28, this resolution too, along with many others, had been broken.

I started to search for answers, drifting in and out of AA, and reading books about alcoholism. I gave up for days or weeks on end, but would always start again. When I drank, I was, or thought I was, the lifeblood of the party and, better still, the noise in my head stopped. It was a kind of freedom myself. I didn’t know if – or how – I could ever give that up completely.

Then, one evening, after a few drinks, I returned home and announced I was going to open another bottle. My partner, Arabella, begged me to sit and eat instead, but I couldn’t. I felt aMUSEmagazine.co.uk |

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Lucy Fry has been sober for nine months, and counting

my answer is simply: “I have no idea. I hope I won’t, because life is better this way.”

Even though some may not understand, most of my friends have been supportive of my decision to get sober. Although I get the feeling they find it a little extreme, but then they never witnessed the damage I did to myself through alcohol.

It is only those friendships, based largely around drunken antics, that have fallen by the wayside, and, in truth, they are no great loss. The people close to me agree that I am more stable and reliable these days, a change which has been felt most by Arabella, whose half-hearted drinking (leaving a glass half-finished, being able to stop at two…) used to infuriate me.

I take things one day at a time, frightened of predicting I’ll stay sober, in case complacency leads me to relapse. Because if I start thinking about not being allowed something ever again, I will want it immediately, voraciously, and without question – even if I know that thing to be so bad for me that it will almost certainly lead to misery, and perhaps even death. The only people who truly understand this are other addicts. Without them I am alone and misunderstood, the very feelings which I sought to relieve with alcohol in the first place.

Getting sober is hard at any age. Perhaps the older one is, the more ingrained one’s drinking habits and the more associations there are, everywhere one goes. Wandering past the commons and pubs on a Friday evening in summer where laughter, fun and the clink of glasses appear entirely interdependent, I grieve self-pityingly for lost experiences, always having to remind myself that, for me, that first glass would always, always lead to another.

So far I’ve had my first grown-up birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s as an adult where I haven’t got smashed, accidentally-onpurpose. I’ve been to weddings where the Champagne, my favourite drink, flows for hours before any kind of food appears.

I’d love to be able to say that I still dance around, uninhibited, but the truth is that ver y often I’d rather be safe at home where I’m not surrounded by alcohol. Generally speaking, watching other people drink gets boring. They repeat themselves and ask annoying questions. They think they’re funny when they’re not.

I’m hardly in a position to feel superior. However, when I notice someone drinking as I used to, faster than everyone else, and visibly wandering where the next glass is coming from, I feel twisted inside.

People like this either try to encourage me to drink, or avoid me with the instinct of a problem drinker who wishes to go unnoticed, perhaps even to themselves. I don’t say anything to them and I never would. There is nothing more nauseating than an evangelical ex-anything, but if somebody comes to me and asks for help, I will tell them my story, the good stuff and the bad, about the freedom that alcohol gave me, about the freedom it took away, and about how it is now, going to sleep and waking up with a clear head every day. a

‘If I start thinking about not being allowed something ever again, I want it immediately and voraciously’

absolutely compelled to drink more, and nobody and nothing was going to stop me. I went out, bought a bottle, and drank it quick ly at the table while Arabella looked on in despair.

The next morning, I looked in the mirror and saw an alcoholic staring back. The time had come to ask for help.

Remembering those bleak times, Arabella says now: “Once the booze hound hit, there was always a horrible moment where everything else and everybody else ceased to matter, and I would start to feel unsafe. I began to fear the unpredictability, the sharp edge of your tongue and the dark cloud that would hang over us both in the aftermath.” Eventually my family stepped in and before I knew it, I was in a treatment centre outside London.

Five weeks and lots of group therapy later, I returned home on my thirtieth birthday. The raucous party I had always assumed I’d throw was replaced by an intimate birthday tea, for family members only. That evening I went to a meeting and spoke the words as I had done many times during treatment: “My name is Lucy and I’m an alcoholic.” And I believed them.

Nine months on, and I am still sober. When people ask, incredulously, as they often do: “So, will you never drink again?”

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MUSE Magazine 300 x 220mm

This home 1.2M but prices to 3.5M for freehold plots

FROM STRESS TO BLISS IN 90 MINUTES.... ..... from central London and set in a stunning 550 acre nature reserve our luxury vacation homes are all lakeside and hand-built to your precise requirements.

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aMUSE

WORDS: POLLY GLASS PHOTOGRAPH BY REX FEATURES

abroad

A SHOE WITH A VIEW

Ms Monroe may have become synonymous with a certain wind-blown dress, but let’s not forget that she had one hell of a shoe collection as well.

Lord of the shoes, Salvatore Ferragamo, designed many a pair for the Hollywood star and now, 14 of these (purchased by the museum in 1999) are to be exhibited in Florence alongside the costumes she wore for her most celebrated roles. Whether you’re a movie boffin or just like ogling amazing outfits, the exhibition can’t help but please.

Marilyn Monroe, until January 2012, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, 5 Euros entrance, Florence, museoferragamo.it

ISLAND LIFE

Be at one with nature without roughing it on this private island in Cambodia. Shower while gazing at the ocean, sip a cocktail by the pool and enjoy seafood, straight from the waters surrounding you. The jaw-dropping beauty of the place is complemented by intimate villas made entirely from sustainable materials, without compromising on comfort – just the right amount of eco warrior edge, then.

Song Saa Private Island, $668 per person per night, all inclusive, songsaa.com

MINE’S A MONTENEGRO

A weekend in Montenegro is surely the ultimate fashion break. Following a hugely successful festival of shopping in 2011, this marina, which is host to all the oligarchs’ biggest yachts, will play host to a series of highly desirable pop-up shops. The London-based concept store Wolf & Badger, swimwear designer Heidi Klein and statement accessories brand Mawi, will rub shoulders with Berlinbased Noé & Zoë, and Florence’s Carolina Bucci, among others. Shop like a maniac and then pop into the Pura Vida spa for restorative facial. portomontenegro.com AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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abroad FOUND IN TRANSLATION

Framed by the dramatic Tokyo skyline, with views onto the Imperial Palace gardens, this hotel in Marunouchi’s multi-billion-dollar development is huge in every sense. There’s a first-class Evian Spa, 46-inch LCD TVs and gold-and-cream décor in the bedrooms, along with Michelin-starred Japanese, Chinese and French chefs on standby.

There are subtle Japanese touches in the rooms, such as Maruyama Nori teas from Tokyo’s Tsukiji district to add lightness and character to the set-up.

From £390 to £5,500, palacehoteltokyo.com

JEWELS IN NYC

The Russian jewellery house Fabergé has opened its first New York boutique on Madison Avenue, where else?

Hardly surprising since its shiny trinkets have long been favoured by the women of all the most lofty American families (Vanderbilts, Morgans, Forbes...). The store contains an exclusive new collection of rings and earrings entitled Les Precieuses. Need an excuse for an NYC break? We’ve just given you one. You’re welcome.

694 Madison Avenue, New York, faberge.com

BOUTIQUE MUSTIQUE The owners of Jigsaw, John and Belle Robinson, are the designers behind this Caribbean villa – and they’ve done rather a good job. With a vast Mexican white-stone pool (above), en suite marble bathrooms and a really massive chandelier in the appropriately-named “great room”, the high-street retailers clearly do high-end holidays too. $30,000 weekly tariff, July-December 2012, mustique-island.com 96 | AMUSE

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FANTASY ISLAND The private resorts of Mozambique are offering serious competition for the upper-class playgrounds of the Caribbean, discovers a delighted Funmi Fetto

Mozambique is set to rival Mustique as the new playground for the rich and famous. The Quirimbas Archipelago on the north coast is where royalty, A-list celebrities and the Forbes Rich List head on their ceaseless quest for luxury and privacy. Medjumbe is one of the islands of choice – it’s a nightmare to get to without a private jet, which is a sure-fire paparazzi deterrent.

But I am made of sterner stuff. After fighting my way through the chaotic crowd at the local airport, I boarded a tiny seven-seater plane that had me wondering if I should have made a will.

But we were only airborne for 20 minutes before landing on Medjumbe. There are 13 chalets on this minute island, though the thirteenth lodge is actually called ‘14’, in case anyone’s superstitious. Each has a huge four-poster bed, a seating area, a massive bathroom, an outside shower and a personal plunge pool.

Perhaps because once you’ve made it to the island you’re assumed to belong there, my evenings were very social. Supper was served on the beach and there was lots of seafood but also enough meat to keep carnivores happy. I had a ball with a well-travelled Portuguese banking couple who regaled me with stories of poker addicts in Macau gambling away their wives. Another highlight was competing with another dinner guest to eat a beautifully seasoned unshelled crab without making a mess (we both failed miserably). This was laid-back luxury at its best, all orchestrated by Victor Fernandes, the charming general manager of the island who bears an uncanny – and utterly appropriate – resemblance to Ricardo Montalban of Fantasy Island. medjumberesort.com

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NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND Where better to escape the stresses of the Euro crisis than Corfu, asks Polly Glass

Relaxing luxury in Greece may seem incongruous at present. Similarly, the idea of a sophisticated break on an island better known for cheap booze could appear unlikely. Yet from the minute we arrived at Corfu’s five-star Marbella Beach Hotel, this is precisely what we experienced. Not a paralytic student in sight.

Looking directly on to the deep blue and turquoise waters of the Ionian Sea from the balcony lounge bar, we almost fell asleep into our welcome cocktails, thanks to an agonisingly early flight, but felt incredibly content. And everywhere is National Geographic green, as pristine and mysterious as the closing shots of Jurassic Park.

Gazing out from our elegant bedroom balcony we could see an infinity pool here, a rooftop bar there, classical white Greek architecture all round – the hotel is very big but, dear Lord, it’s beautiful. We oohed and aahed for a while, pausing only to try all the fragrant bathroom freebies, and ran around like excited children for a bit, then I abruptly crashed out and fell asleep midway through an anti-stress massage in the onsite spa.

It was all so far removed from Euro crises and bank defaults that we could not but blink a little, astonished that everything seemed to be carrying on as normal in this heavenly spot.

If you just wanted to come and relax in the lap of coastal luxury for a few days, you could quite happily refuse to leave the hotel – there are so many restaurants (one serving classic Greek food, another Italian dishes and one with more casual bites), stylish bars and a multitude of viewpoints to stretch out by with a book/sketchpad/glass of Champagne.

Being adventurous types, however, we popped into Corfu Town, a 20-minute drive away.

Navigating the cobbled streets lined with stalls selling bowls made of olive wood, T-shirts and ouzo, we spotted a group of Greek Orthodox priests puzzling over some creatively shaped shells.

Attracted by the lure of the shore, we set out on a boat trip round the island – captained by a robust, smiley seafarer called Antonio – and stopped off at Limni, a tiny, isolated beach just beyond the pretty village of Agni. Swimming in startlingly clear blue seas, as pastel green butterflies fluttered past, we could do nothing but grin inanely. It is possible, though, that the ouzo Antonio gave us – not to mention his home-made rosé (‘It will not give you headache’) – added a nice, hazy edge to a sunny island afternoon.

Classic Collection Holidays (classic-collection.co.uk; 0800 294 9318) offers 7 nights at the five-star Marbella Beach Hotel, Corfu, from £665 per person this June (£715 per person this July) based on two sharing a double room on a half-board basis. Price includes return flights from London Gatwick (other UK departure airports available) to Corfu and private transfers.

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interiors

The Masai Mara

comes to Marble Arch Sarah Walter takes inspiration from the catwalk to the savannah to fill her house with light and colour Former fashion editor of British Vogue, Sarah Walter became fashion director at Marie Claire, then worked at New Look and River Island. In 2010 she founded style-passport.com, answering all the big questions about holidays: what to take, how to pack and what to wear. She lives in W2 with her husband, Dylan Jones, editor of GQ, and their two daughters Edie, 14, and Georgia, 12.

‘I

live a stone’s throw from Marble Arch in a house that is flooded with light and surrounded by magnolia trees. At the end of March, I look out of the sitting room window and see the pale green of the leaves and the pink of the flowers and they look extraordinary together.

We bought the house nine years ago but it took five months before it was ready for us to move in. We ripped out the traditional Victorian décor, which didn’t fit at all because the house was built in the 1960s so it had no integrity at all. We’d never lived in a modern property but we embraced the light and space and worked with it, not against it.

The first floor houses a sunken sitting room, dining area and kitchen, all of which flow into each other, providing one big space with different areas. White, wood and pale

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GET THE SAR AH LOOK… BRIAR DUVET, CALVIN KLEIN, £275, calvinkleininc.com

GOLDSMITH & PERRIS DRESSING TABLE SET, £395, ALFIE’S ANTIQUES, alfiesantiques.com

CH44 WOVEN SEAT ARMCHAIR CHAIR, THE CONRAN SHOP, £1,181 theconranshop.co.uk

PORTRAIT: DAVID BAILEY

PAUL YACOMINE HAIR SCENTS, £27 EACH, STYLE PASSPORT style-passport.com

green are my favourite colours – I sometimes have to steer away from green as I think I’m obsessed with it. My father made the small table in the window and the Tom Dixon light was a gift since Tom and my husband were at St Martin’s together. I found the vellum cocktail cabinet in Golborne Road about 10 years ago and it goes well with the African lamp and gourd. Africa is never too far away.

Light is incredibly important to me. I would take a small, light house over a large, dark one any day. To suit the house, I have adopted a modern, African style. I love natural materials and a cool palette but can’t resist pops of colour and neon. I see the colour combination as a Masai warrior dressed for a lion hunt in an array of reds against the yellows and browns of the Bush.

Everywhere I travel, I am struck by the juxtaposition of colours and materials and carry a library of images around with me all the time. Travel is the best inspiration and when fashion designers do an interiors line it’s frequently wonderful, like Missoni’s home line. It would be wonderful to see Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou or Peter Pilotto, who are all wonderful with colour, do some interiors products. I’d certainly be first in the queue to buy them.

LIBERTY LONDON COLLECTIONS, LIBERTY-PRINT SILK AND VELVET CUSHIONS, £145 EACH liberty.co.uk

ANTIQUE AFRICAN ARTEFACTS, ACCESSORIES AND FURNITURE, FROM A SELECTION AT ANDREW MARTIN andrewmartin.co.uk

KARDEMUMMA WHITE PLANT POT, IKEA, £2.25 ikea.com

DIAMANT DRESSING TABLE, £299, maisonsdumonde.com

LÖNSBODA, SCENTED CANDLE IN A GLASS, IKEA, £3.39 ikea.com HUDSON PLANT POT, IKEA, £17.99 ikea.com

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at home

I KNOW HOWE SHE DOES IT

The driving force behind award-winning London interior designers Taylor Howes, Karen Howes, 50, has created homes for clients from The Knightsbridge and Phillimore Square developments, to a host of private customers. She lives with her property developer husband, Andrew, in Mayfair.

I WAS FIRST INSPIRED BY THE INTERIOR DESIGNER MARY FOX LINTON...

SPLENDID SURFACES

Put some serious sparkle into your home with this collection of 50 gemstones from Clerkenwell design innovator Fameed Khalique. Fameed hunts down the very best in beautiful fabrics, stone and gems worldwide for serious players in the interiors world. So if you’re seeking intricate mosaics, gem detailing for your countertop or enormous stone slabs for your kitchen, whatever your surface revamp requirements, he can help. fameedkhalique.com

She was so ahead of her game. We scour the globe for new materials and products.

At present I’m incoporating semi-precious stones into bathrooms and pools.

AL FRESCO CHIC

Summer’s here, the sun is high… it’s the season of the garden party. But how to make your open-air space stand out from the others on your street? By dipping into L&B London’s Al Fresco Collection 2012, featuring stylish pieces including olive branch servers and large open-air lamps. £112-£5,130, 6/7 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8JU, lblondon.com

ONCE WE’VE SEEN A LOOK AND IT BECOMES MAINSTREAM, IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON...

There was a real fashion for purple a couple of years back – we had it as our logo, then found that everyone was doing it, and now we are on to orange. The current look for masculine, taupe interiors is everywhere and we are moving things on with a softer touch and more colour.

WE ARE ALWAYS INFLUENCED

BY FASHION...

WORDS: POLLY GLASS

SUMMER LIGHTS

We love these summery scented candles from Max Benjamin, in original scents such as mimosa and sweet amber, olio (an enticing blend of lemon, nutmeg and sandalwood, rather than the cooking oil implied by the name) and grapefruit and pomelo.

Fragrances to liven up, not saturate, your home, and a lot better than a Febreze. £19.95 (190g), available in John Lewis nationwide or at maxbenjamin.ie

Yellow and orange are major colours in our palette at the moment.

In the past, I’ve thought out the interior design of a kennel and created sexy cinemas. Nothing is too weird.

IF YOU TIRE OF LONDON YOU TIRE OF LIFE...

I have lived here all of my adult life and would never dream of not having a base here. I’m a big fan of Scott’s, round the corner from my pad. taylorhowes.co.uk

PRINT CHARMING

Londoner Rob Ryan’s whimsical screen prints have appeared on pieces in Liberty and in collaborations with Tatty Devine, Paul Smith and Lulu Guinness.

His new 2012 Bells Collection – embracing cushions, pretty plates, notebooks and vases – is well worth your attention. The perfect summer gifts.

Ryantown, 126 Columbia Road, E2 7RG, from £8.95, available online at wildandwolf.com AMUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK |

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24/04/2012 18:09

restaurant news

by LYDIA SLATER

GOLF GALORE Surreal foodies Bompas and Parr have pulled off many a wacky stunt – the Alton Towers chocolate climbing wall comes to mind – but setting up a cake-themed crazy golf course on top of Selfridges was one of their toughest assignments yet.

“We really wanted everything to be edible,” says Sam Bompas, “but there was the pigeon problem.” Instead, nine holes of London landmarks, including the Gherkin and Tower Bridge, have been designed to look like wedding cakes, with decorative grouting piped on using icing bags. “The score-cards are our pride and joy,” says Bompas. “We’ve had them impregnated with the scent of Bakewell tarts.” Perfect to give you an appetite for the real thing, available alongside in the organic Daylesford Café.

A round of crazy golf is £6 a head, bookable in advance at selfridges.com

YOU NOODLE Tonkotsu sounds an

IN THE RAW The current craze for all things Peruvian is merely a by-product of the

appealingly exotic name for London’s first speciality ramen bar, opening on Dean Street this month – but it translates as “Pig Bones”… tonkotsu.co.uk

real foodie trend for not cooking things at all. Soho hot spot Ceviche divides its menu into raw and cooked, while visitors to the Royal Academy have been flocking to its new café, 42°Raw, where nothing is heated above 42 degrees in order to preserve the enzymes in the food. (Or is it a cunning wheeze to avoid rising fuel costs?)

42raw.com

EATING FOR THE OLYMPICS As the athletes prepare to pound around the track, London’s restaurateurs are determined to get the rest of us piling on the pounds.

1. Drink for Britain at Anise, chic offspring of the Cinnamon Club, which is offering flaming torch cocktails and a menu of five multi-coloured dishes, from £3.50 each.

Anise, 9 Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YL, 020 7626 5000, cinnamon-kitchen.com 2. Give your all in the Gastro Race, organised by

the ETM group of gastropubs (including The Gun, The Jugged Hare and The Botanist): win gold, silver or bronze by visiting four pubs within a two-week period and consuming a drink, bar snack, main course and pudding in the fastest possible time… etmgroup.co.uk 3. Make your country proud at Le Café Anglais, which has an Olympic menu for a very appropriate £20.12, washed down with high-energy cocktails.

At least your jaw muscles will be getting a workout.

Le Café Anglais, 8 Porchester Gardens, London W2 4DB, 020 7221 1415, lecafeanglais.co.uk

SET SAIL FOR MEXICO Wahaca, the trendy Mexican restaurant group,

has always prided itself on sustainability – but is it taking things too far? Its latest restaurant, which has just landed on the South Bank, is made from eight recycled shipping containers. wahaca.co.uk

2

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food news

by LYDIA SLATER

GLOBAL GOURMET Eat your way around the world – without risking the tummy bugs. This month, St Martin’s Courtyard in Covent Garden is holding a free Global Food Festival.

Make guacamole to the sound of a mariachi band and swig a complimentary tequila cocktail at Cantina Laredo, or relax in a deck chair with a free cucumber sarnie at Bill’s. Suda is dishing up Thai street food (and puppeteers); Dalla Terra will slosh out fine Italian wines, Dishoom is doing Bombay burgers and Jamie’s is holding a hog roast. Saturday 14th July, St Martin’s Courtyard, 12-5pm. stmartinscourtyard.co.uk

THE QUINTESSENCE OF TASTE Laura Santtini’s new Taste #5 Umami Dust, a

THE PERFECT POP-UP Welcome to London’s chic-est, most exclusive pop-up: your

kitchen. Even if your culinary skills stop at the tin-opener, a clutch of new London companies are aiming to get you creating like Heston.

Hello Fresh is a revolutionary home delivery service. Sign up to its plan and, every week, it delivers you a box of top-quality raw ingredients, including herbs and spices, accompanied by easy-to-follow recipes with clear photos of each ingredient for quick, healthy and delicious home-cooked meals.

My other half, who can barely make toast, astonished both of us by rustling up a sophisticated tiger prawn linguine with chili and sun-dried tomato. A bonanza for the time-poor; and for bachelors who wish to impress.

From £4.30 per person per meal, hellofresh.co.uk For parties, forget lumpy cheese straws and call in Wild Thexton, a new creative catering company that delivers original, seasonal canapés to your door. Chef Tom Thexton has worked in Heston’s kitchens and it shows, what with the pork pie cupcakes and goat’s cheese and sour cherry truffles...

From £54 for a box of 48 canapés, wildthexton.co.uk

concoction of tomato, anchovy, porcini mushroom, spices and lemon peel, is proving dangerously addictive. “I knew I’d hit the jackpot when my friends told me it had the Pringles factor,” says Laura. “Fortunately, it’s got zero calories. Several of them keep a pot of it on their desks and, when the urge to snack strikes, they dip a finger in, drink a glass of water and that’s their lunch!” We prefer it shaken over a boiled egg…

Taste #5 Umami Dust, £2.99, available from Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys

KIWI COOKING “Hailing as I do from New Zealand, I was dismayed

by British dips,” says Charlotte Knight, founder of G’Nosh. “It’s either 1970s party packs or hummus.”

Her response, G’Nosh (Gourmet Nosh), is a range of vegetarian dips, including sweet black bean, roasted aubergine, and beetroot and mint. And are they healthy? “Peter Gordon is using the black bean and the beetroot in a range of canapés that he’s creating for the Olympic athletes.” Enough said.

G’NOSH can be bought at a range of London stockists including Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Wholefoods Kensington, as well as nationwide through Ocado, from £2.49 for160g

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CELEBRATE THE BEST OF BRITISH AT COOKBOOK CAFE

Cookbook Cafe offers upscale market table fare that champions British seasonal and sustainable ingredients in an interactive culinary experience. The new weekday ‘50 Mile’ lunch menu offers a selection of dishes created from ingredients sourced within a stone’s throw from the hotel. Londoners flock to the restaurant at the weekend to enjoy a spectacular brunch. While adults relax with ‘bottomless’ Crémant and Bellinis the children can be entertained with the regular Kids Cook masterclasses – all the ingredients to guarantee the perfect afternoon for the whole family. For more information visit www.cookbookcafe.co.uk

Do you live an InterContinental life?

Cookbook Cafe is a Sustainable Restaurant Association ‘Two-Star Sustainability Champion’ Please call us on +44 (0) 20 7409 3131 Or visit us on www.london.intercontinental.com

In over 170 locations across the globe including HONG KONG • LONDON • NEW YORK • PARIS

IC PL_CBC Amuse Ad_AW.indd 1

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THE FIFTEENMINUTE

meal

Two courses in quarter of an hour? No problem for superchef Florence Knight

TE , COURGET PINE & R ICOTTA TATA IT R F NUT

August is a great month for British-grown courgettes and this charming vegetable is very versatile.

Combined with velvety ricotta and pine nuts, it makes for a simple yet scrumptious dish, working well with crisp lettuce leaves and fresh, crusty bread as a light lunch, or for a picnic.

• 3 medium courgettes • 75 grams parmesan • 6 large free-range eggs • 100ml double cream • Sea salt and black pepper • 200 grams ricotta • The zest of one lemon • A good handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped • 100 grams toasted pine-nuts 1 Start by pre-heating the oven to 160°C. 2 Grate the courgettes on the chunkiest setting of a cheese grater and place, with a pinch of salt, in a colander over a bowl. This will help to release some of the water from the courgettes and ensure you don’t end up with a soggy frittata. Then grate the parmesan and set aside.

3 Meanwhile, beat together the eggs and cream in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of black pepper.

Stir in the parmesan, half the ricotta, the courgettes, the lemon zest and the mint. Pour the mixture into a well-greased pan or small tray.

4 Place in the oven and cook for ten minutes. Remove, scatter over the pine nuts and dollop over the other half of the ricotta. Return to the oven for about another ten minutes, or until just set. You want to keep a bit of wobble, otherwise it can become very rubbery.

5 If you can be patient, let the frittata cool a little, as the mixture will release and shrink away from the edges of the pan, making it much easier to remove. Cut into wedges and eat at room temperature, with a simple lettuce salad dressed in olive oil and lemon juice.

VICTORIA MOORE’S TOP PICKS

R RY G O OSE B E F O OL

FOR THE FRITTATA

Phaedra Xynomavro Rosé 2011 Macedonia, Greece (12.5%, £8.99, Waitrose) is a highly unusual rosé: perfumed, pretty and dry, made from the xynomavro grape with a bit of syrah.

It smells of summer, just like the mint and lemon in this frittata.

FOR THE FOOL

Gooseberries and elderflowers are a classic combination and two of the flavours found in Sauvignon Blanc, so continue the theme and make a white wine spritzer by mixing one part of elderflower cordial, four parts Sauvignon Blanc and four parts fizzy water, serving with a big slice of lemon over ice.

Victoria Moore, wine columnist for The Telegraph, is the Louis Roederer International Wine Writer of the Year.

This traditional English dessert dates back to the 16th century and yet it’s still something we look forward to at the height of summer. The fresh cream works beautifully with the sharpness of the gooseberries – and it’s so easy to make.

• 400 grams gooseberries, topped and tailed with a sharp knife • 1 tablespoon of elderflower cordial • 3 heaped tablespoons of sugar • 280ml double cream 1 Place the gooseberries in a saucepan and pour over a tablespoon of water and the elderflower cordial, then add the sugar. Stew the gooseberries for ten minutes until they are just beginning to burst and pop. Remove them from the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

2 Meanwhile, whip your cream in a large bowl. Once the whisk starts to feel heavy and you can hold a ribbon of cream on the surface, stop whisking. Fold and ripple three quarters of the cooled gooseberry mixture through the cream. Spoon the fool into bowls or glasses and scatter over the remaining berries.

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–– This month’s muse ––

Which Londoner inspires you?

Queen Elizabeth II. Sixty impeccable years of service with grace and fortitude.

What do you think of the fashion talent coming out of London?

It is difficult to pick one, but I’d say Erdem.

What’s the most exciting thing about the British high street?

You see good-looking, well-dressed men and sassy English girls.

What is your latest project?

I have begun working on the spring 2013 collection and we will also be opening a CH Carolina Herrera store in Fulham Road in September.

What’s your favorite London hotel?

I love to stay at Claridge’s out of habit.

What’s your favourite work of art in a London gallery?

All the Hogarths at the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn. Which three shops can’t you resist in the capital?

Phillips de Pury Auctioneers in SW1, the Fabergé dealer, Wartski, in W1 and Serena Linley’s new beauty boutique in SW3.

Which shows have you seen recently?

I devoured the whole of Downton Abbey and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Do you have a life philosophy?

You can do anything with discipline.

What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?

I would tell myself to keep doing the same things that I did when I was 16: studying, playing tennis, riding my horse, and

Carolina Herrera The US designer stays at

Claridges, devours Downton Abbey, and admires Erdem

Hogarth Progress by The Rake’s

A dress from t esor Herrera’s R on 2013 collecti

starting to think about boys.

What the last luxury you treated yourself to?

Two hours of silence which ended 15 minutes ago.

What would you do with Battersea Power Station?

I wouldn’t touch it because it is a part of England’s heritage.

What’s your take on the Olympics?

I don’t have tickets, but I absolutely love the summer Olympics and will be watching the opening ceremony.

What makes a good designer for you?

A good designer has to have the talent and originality to develop their own style.

What criteria did you use for the Mango fashion awards selection process?

The judges had to see something unique in the pieces and consistency throughout the designer’s collection. The winning designs had leather, movement, and intricacy.

How did you find the standard of entries?

It was an amazing selection – the talent was endless. The day before, I saw the designs on [Barcelona’s ] Paseo de Gracia.

You could see the diversity of the designs.

Why are the awards so important?

They are a great platform. It is great that someone can help these young designers build a business.

What made you get involved as president of the awards jury?

Isak Andic, the president of Mango asked me and I was very honoured. The award proves his generosity and commitment to help up-and-coming designers.

HOGARTH’S A RAKE’S PROGRESS: COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM

na Above: Sere ty Linley’s beau boutique.

Below: a chalcedony t with Fabergé ca ruby eyes

below: Above and Claridge’s.

Fabergé Top right: a amond di d ruby an hummingbird

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