Making Miss Monroe

A photography book about Marilyn Monroe and photographer Andre de Dienes, given to me by my sister when I was about 14 or 15, is what inspired my life-long affection for Ms Monroe.
Marilyn, Mon Amour: The private album of Andre de Dienes was filled with scores of Dienes's black-and-white images, such as the one below, all before Marilyn was Marilyn. 
The Austrian photographer captured stunning images of a young Norma Jean in the late 1940s and early 1950s, right on the cusp of her imminent infamy.
What an incredible time.
It's a beautiful book and his photos are lovely.

Do something, Darling!

I'm a big fan of Gala Darling.
The New Zealand native, who lives in New York, is a stylish rebel and her posts are always inspiring. This post on evading procrastination is no exception.

Gala Darling (right) and her friend Kat on Brooklyn Bridge, NY.

Fashionable rooms

Long and lean, skinny black legs and elegant timber veneer are a timelessly chic combination for furniture.
Match that with dizzyingly high ceilings and a whole heap of stylish threads, and you'd imagine a lot of cash is dropped inside Orla Kiely's New York shop (which I found over at SF Girl By Bay).

Mini rooms inside the expansive retail space. 

Winning and pinning

I'm excited! I'm on Pinterest! Click here to view my pins.

Black and white beauties

Talented, beautiful, stylish icons all of them. And shot in black and white, the actors below appear almost otherworldly. They just don't make stars like them anymore.

Marilyn Monroe

Sophia Loren

Brigitte Bardot

Jean Shrimpton

Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

Charlotte Rampling

What a thoughtful gif...

This GIF animation (click here to view it in motion) is amazing! I'd like to learn how to do it too. I also love live simply. breathe deeply.'s tumblr site. It's full of trippy images and lovely well-considered prose and quotes.
 

Mine, mine, all mine!

Well, here we are. A look in my wardrobe and beyond. You've asked, I've delivered. Finally.

Enjoy...

Colour-coded wardrobe. Yes, seriously. There's not much in there that was made after the mid 1970s. 

I have a signature fragrance, until it runs out, then I move onto another one.  My current choice, and the perfume I wore to my wedding, Tom Ford's White Patchouli (What about that bottle!  Hello 1970!). Behind that, its most recent predecessor, Aqua Di Parma Iris Nobile. And behind them both: a nearly empty bottle of Madame Rochas.

No, Converse do not need a shoe box, but the others do! I keep the boxes and use the photos for a few reasons: They are well protected and therefore last longer and look better, they  store neatly, and they are easy to find. Nerd!

Old meets new: a double-breasted tuxedo jacket from Zara and a vintage cotton lace and duchess satin frock.

Some of my jewellery. I make it. I buy it. I collect it. I covet it. Ugh. It's taking over.