faded and worn

The clothes featured in Never Let Me Go can only be described as drab, really. But what with all the wool & corduroy it seems rather fitting for this time of year. Set on the British coast, the movie can also be described as one long Barbour ad (x), thanks to the wellies & rain coats worn. There is also the whole boarding school setting to it though & as such stiff collars abound as well. Mostly though, it's a big blob of grey, moss green, burgundy & beige.

“There are no shiny, new objects in the film.  Everything is faded and worn and hand-me-down.  This is where the idea of Wabi Sabi came in. There is always a sense of time ticking, ticking, ticking.  We were careful to put clocks and watches in nearly every scene, because the story is so much about the passage of time and the preciousness of time.  We tried to do that with sound design as well – it’s not just clocks that mark the passage of time but the wind and rhythms of nature as well.” 
Mark Romanek

wardrobe essentials

1. Pearls - I don't even take them off at night anymore, which makes it easier not to forget about putting them on in the morning.
2. Chanel Rouge Noir & a nice transparent nail polish
3. LBD - For going out, fancy dinners, weddings etc.
4. Well-cut blazers - Blazers are the love of my life. End.
5. Black & blue jeans
6. Peacoat
7. Simple black heels, flats & low boots
8. Comme des Garcons clutch
9. Shoulder bag - main criteria: must fit a large book.
10. Dotted scarf - In the winter time I even wear my scarf indoors.
11. Watch from Seiko - Can't afford Cartier so this one has to do.
12. Simple black & white shirt
13. Marinière shirt from Petit Bateau

grace in wonderland

"When I was very young, my sister used to read me all the children's classics like Winnie-the-Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. Years later, I would use Lewis Carroll's great narrative to inspire one of my favorite fashion shoots. (...) Seeing a story visually rather than in words was what I was responding to."

Grace: A Memoir, by Grace Coddington

(1) Alice in Wonderland (2) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (3) Hansel and Gretel
(4) Beauty and the Beast (5) Romeo and Juliet

a home of their own

Stella Tennant and David Lasnet have one of those grand, quintessentially British country houses, 

reminiscent of the ones that get featured in Vogue UK a lot. 

Bit messy & chaotic, as it would be with four kids, but also light-flooded & rather au naturel.

Something befit for a granddaughter of the last of the infamous Mitford sisters, Deborah.

 

 

  
"Years later, when Nancy invited some undergraduate friends from Oxford to lunch, my father waited for a pause in the conversation and said loudly to my mother at the other end of the table, ‘Have these people no homes of their own?’"
Wait for Me!, by Deborah Mitford

“Rose doesn’t like the flat country, but I always did – flat country seems to give the sky such a chance.”
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

respite

This holiday season University sadly got a foot in the door & asks for some work to be done. It's all a bit stressful; so very much not what this season and holiday stand for. However, the few days before & after Christmas are reserved for family and as such completely off-limits to any sort of work whatsoever, except 'work' done in the kitchen, of course. Tonight will be spent in the company of a certain Doctor and the Crawleys. I've also taken some time off reading for Uni & finally immersed myself in the absolutely charming world of Cassandra Mortmain, while wolfing down one Lindt chocolate after the other and making a witches' cauldron-worth of eggnog.

How are you spending the holidays?

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining board, 
which I have padded with our dog's blanket and the tea cosy."
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith