Colour blocking or the art to have fun with colour!

I thought it wonderful when colour blocking appeared on the scene last year, but this year some fashion designers have continued with it and perhaps easier for our purses, so has the high street. If you want striking design and flash colour in your lingerie, look up Dutch lingerie designer, Marlies Dekkers, the shapes very flattering and modern retro! I love to combine that with flash nail varnish, Chanel gave us a wonderful lemon yellow nail varnish in last years summer collection, but I think the OPI "it colour", a mellow warm yellow is easier to wear for all skins.
To keep to your fun flash mood in your outer clothes what about lacy or soft cotton flash yellow, hot pink or aguamarine dresses with a legging and ballerinas in the same or contrasting  tone?The dresses can be found at Melvin, a Belgian high street label with a Diane von Furstenberg attitude; comfortable feminine wrap dresses , combined with great prints and colour. Ballerinas in a variety of colour, including patent yellow, hot pink and coral suede can be found at French internet shoesite Sarenza, look for the Spanish shoemaker Valensi (added bonus they go from 33 to 44 in high fashion designs, great!).
Top this orgy of colour with one of my favourite feelgood and highly quirky make up labels "Benefit", started by two sisters, who with retro packaging and really useful pragmatic makeup give us a great start to the day.
Should you be feeling flush with cash and wanting to treat yourself , then have a look at italian label Blugirl who does a wonderful collection in mandarine and pinks with 50's accents. For a 60's design look in great lemon and green Carolina Herrera has done some great outfits combining todays shapes and textiles with the graphic design of the mod 60's. As you can guess my favourite colour this spring and summer is yellow and so my fabbest fashion item of all is Mrc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton pale lemon coat in stiff cotton with crochet appliques.

have fun!!!

Mothers and Daughters

Mothers and daughters, so much fusion and so much power if both give and take.It has always fascinated me to see strong mothers lead and equally strong daughters accept to follow in their mothers footsteps. Not an easy task for neither, I would say. The mother initiates and the daugher continues but establishes her own identity.

 Simone Ortega, famous cookery writer of the 60's and 70's in Spain wrote her 1080 cookery recipes to great acclaim, revising traditional spanish cooking for the modern life. the book has been revised and republished in English, French and other languages. These editions have been accompanied by wonderful drawings by Javier Mariscal great illustrator and designer of the Spanish Movida.Her daughter Ines publishes a blog on cooking and writes her own more contemporary recipes, her latest one is on tapas, that great Spanish invention which allows you to drink in moderation with a lovely warm snack. I grew up in madrid and whenever I travel back it is alswys a pleasdure to sample the various tapas and pinchos(smaller sized!) in the myriad of bars around the Plaza Santa Ana in the heart of Madrid next to its Parliament.

Another great mother daughter team which seems to have effected the transition from mother to daughter without a hitch is mother Sonia and daughter Nathalie Rykiel of the happiest french feminine fashion label. Pragmatism seems to be the base of Sonia's success, starting with knits in the 60's she made knitwear a glamourous wearable fashion, much like Coco Chanel with her jersy outfits. I love both Chanel and Rykiel for thinking about marrying comfort for body movement with style!

My favourite high street fashion for mother and daughter is french label Comptoir des Cotonniers, who do great ads with mothers and daughters with a quirky take!