The Swelle Life

Red Valentino: There's No Shame in Being Pretty

Unabashedly feminine and youthful, Valentino's latest 'little sister' collection Red Valentino is not only darling and pretty, it doesn't care that the season it's to be sold in is autumn,  I like that! Lots of blush pinks, floral appliques and prints, mini lengths, ruffles and bows that traditionally resurface in spring. We have been moving toward seasonless collections for a few years now but I still get a real jolt when I see such fresh loveliness in the shops and editorial pages as I lament the skies being jet black at 4pm in November. Red Valentino is what it is, year-round. I like a label that has an aesthetic you can set your watch to. 

Ok, you pretty much need a concave chest to wear these dresses so you don't look like a Lolita Jordan, but aren't the illustrated fairytale backdrops are a dream?

Photos: Style.com

Haute Couture: Alexis Mabille's Monochrome (Probably Not Mannerist) Models

My first thought when I saw Alexis Mabille's monochromed models for Spring 2012 haute couture week was "The acid coloured faces - they're just like those in the Mannerist paintings!" Now I may not remember what I had for lunch yesterday (or today), but I vividly recall certain things I learned in high school art history, it was the only thing that truly interested me. As a fine art major in university I don't recall coming across this again and therefore re-confirming the information, but I do believe I was shown some paintings from the Mannerist period as an example of something you wouldn't expect to see from the time because they used vivid colours, on the faces as well. However, I should admit it's entirely possibly that I was half asleep and I got confused, because after searching for hours and hours over several days since the collection was shown, I cannot find any evidence of this. I couldn't drop the reference though and start over, because at the very least they remind me of Jacopo Pontormo's acid-hued masterpiece Descent from the Cross (1525-1528).

But it's small consolation, it's not a close resemblance. I might be clutching at paint brushes here. Now I am (almost) convinced I imagined the whole thing. It wouldn't be the first time!

I still wanted to show the collection, for two reasons. I love the colours Mabille chose and the way the faces harmoniously carried through the hue (not at first but it really grew on me) and focussed attention on the head which was adorned with a giant paper rose.  According to Tim Blanks, his inspiration was (guess what, not a Mannerist painting!) a photo of Lisa Fonssagrives on a beach "her face suffused with pink from the sunlight coming through her umbrella." Sounds gorgeous, doesn't it? I couldn't find that one either!

And the dresses themselves aren't bad either! Beautiful, actually. Modern classics.

These are my favourite colours from the collection, as shot by Style.com:

Right: I love this shade of gold, very pure and clean, completely devoid of yellow.

The other reason I carried on despite my failed concept is I found some absolutely stunning photos of the collection on Violeta Purple, a gorgeous blog with lots of original photography by Yavidan Violeta, a Mexican-Turkish woman living in Paris. She's utterly charming, signing her posts with a photograph of shoes, her other muse. 

Her Mabille photos are so gorgeous and convey the romance of the collection beautifully - the feel is so engaging it makes the standard runway shot seem pointless. Does anyone else wish we could ditch the singular view from the wall of cameras at the end of the runway in favour of something magical, like this?

 For more of Yavidan's Alexis Mabille photos including backstage, see Violeta Purple. Enjoy!

Floral Friday! The Last of Wallington Pt.1

If this is Part 1 I guess it's not really the last then, is it! But it is winding down. Two weeks ago we saw Wallington's gorgeous greenhouse and now we walk through canopied paths to another walled garden with a small pond. There are more photos than I realised that are worth sharing, the garden is just bursting with beauty, so next week we'll finish with the scenery on the walk out of this living wonderland. It started to rain halfway through, but it would take a lot more than that to send me running from Wallington. Golfball-sized hail would do it.

To take the rest of the tour see here

I hope you like green.

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday: Au Revoir, Francois Lesage

The man responsible for much of the heartbreakingly exquisite beauty of haute couture has died.  Francois Lesage was head of Maison Lesage, the legendary embroidery salon in Paris where rare magic happens. He was 82.

It seems the craft was in his blood. His father, Albert, founded the family firm in 1924 when he bought the atelier of Napoleon III’s embroiderer, Michonet, who had also worked for Charles Frederick Worth. Subsequently Albert married Marie-Louise Favot, an embroidery worker at Vionnet. With that legacy how could he have followed any other path?

Luckily he fell in love with beautifying textiles with threads and beads and has helped keep this highly skilled art alive, through the work of the Maison as seen on the best of haute couture (not without help from Chanel who saved the Maison by buying it), and ensuring new talent is nurtured through his Paris school, Ecole Lesage Atelier de Broderie. What a dream vocation. (A fellow Canadian named Sarah Crowley got her dream and moved to Paris to study at Lesage a few years ago, you can read about her time there and see her own beautiful designs at Glimpse Creations.)

Below is a delight of an interview with Lesage from 1987 from Fashion Television:

Christian Lacroix's exquisiteness was greatly owed to Lesage

Floral Friday! Wallington's Lush Greenhouse

This Floral Friday I take you back to Wallington's walled garden, one of my most favourite places, which I'm really missing especially now that the winter bitterness is beginning to creep in. Their picturesque greenhouse is just a dream, it had me wondering how I could live in one. (Probably wouldn't work out anyway, I'm a huge wimp when it comes to cold.)

For more on glorious Wallington, including their dreamy pond with a floating bed and baby black coots flitting upon the lily pads, see here (you'll have to scroll down a bit but be sure to catch Versailles on the way!)

(I think it's funny there's a picture of a flower hanging amongst the superior live specimens!)

Nice place for a cat nap

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Papery Printed Porcelain from Bath

This past weekend I went on a girls' trip to visit a friend in Bristol (no one makes toast like you, Sophie) and it included a visit to dreamy Bath, which is a must when in town. We had gorgeous autumn weather and I really wished I had my camera, but I left it at home so I wouldn't be holding up the group or miss everything that was happening. I took lots of pictures in spring of last year which you can see here here here and here. (Though I do find my old photos a bit cringe-worthy so if you look, do it quickly, eh?)

While roaming the shops in Bath I popped into Rostra & Rooksmoor Galleries - I couldn't resist a turquoise-painted shop - and saw a collection of works by local ceramicist Janine Roper which immediately attracted me due to their Delftware influences. And then they really intrigued me when I noticed they weren't poured into moulds but had a papery effect in that they were obviously hand-formed. I didn't get her name (must work on that) but the woman at the gallery was really helpful and explained that the artist rolls out the porcelain into sheets, cuts and shapes it and then screenprints it. That is is so neat! She uses mostly traditional cobalt blue oxides and draws her print design from vintage 'Sunday Best' tea sets and other domestic items from her life.

I had to take one home and decided on the jug, a charming little piece that stands about 6" high. I pictured delicate flowers in it but really wanted to actually use it, as a jug. But I wasn't sure if that was a stupid idea (that happens a lot with me). Was it safe? Would I break it? I got all excited when I read the artist's statement the lovely woman gave me and saw the words "pour exquisite drinks from her range of pitchers of all different sizes." Permission! I've been displaying the jug on my aqua French side table in my living room, then last night when I was putting a tray of tea together I took it into the kitchen and filled it with milk. This was exciting to me. Is milk exquisite? No, not unless it comes from an exceptionally beautiful cow. But it made my tea ritual much nicer.

I know what I want to do in my next life. Study ceramics in Bath. That sounds pretty good to me.

You can see where the porcelain is folded, giving it a papery effect

The spout has been applied as a separate piece but it appears seamless from the exterior

Photos and collage © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Razzberry's Bazaar's Fuchsia Garden

During the freakishly awesome weather we had recently, I took the opportunity to get a few snaps of the most cheerful garden I know. (At the most challenging time on the sunniest of days, hence the harshness.) A shop on the local high street called Razzberry Bazaar is known for its gorgeous and inviting entrance of hot pink and purple painted pots with flowers to match. People come from all over to see it and have a browse in their rainbow rooms where thousands of trinkets and gift items are arranged according to colour. The garden is just for show, not for sitting in, but I wish it was.

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Weekend! The Fashion Week Edition

Florals may be a bit of a cliche now, we see them season after season including AW. But I don't care, I love it! There's always a new way to work with them so it's not just another floral dress, like these looks from fashion month which are anything but old and dusty.

Clockwise from top right: Chistopher Kane; Richard Chai Love; Peter Pilotto; Antonio Marras x 2;  Erdem; Kinder Aggugini; Gary Graham.

I cordially invite the Erdem and Kinder Aggugini coats to my wardobe, April 2012 sharp.

Floral Friday! This Morning's After-Rain Finds

Getting back into the school run routine wasn't something I was looking forward to, but I did miss my walks home along the beach. It was lightly raining for the first bit (of course the sun came out 30 seconds after I got in the door!) and I  noticed that the flowers in the gardens of the houses I was passing after coming up from the sea were still thriving. I didn't have my favourite lens for the closeups but I thought these still might do the trick for a little brightening up if it's a bit gloomy where you are:

   

I love this flower, it's so spiky and lush. Its orange petals have lilac tips which is so unusual. I don't know what it is, do you? Tell me in the comments if you do!

 

© The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! The Butterfly Conservatory Gardens

I know this is huge but I like that it looks as if you could jump into it!

I've got to rest up for a shoot in the morning so this is a quickie from the gardens outside the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls, plus a shot of a storm coming in at dusk. Have a great weekend and happy Labour Day weekend to everyone back home! (Despite it being the most depressing holiday ever - who wants to celebrate the end of summer? Yarg!)

 
 
     

 

 
Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Niagara-on-the-Lake's Blooming High Street

A restaurant I can't remember the name of that is beautiful with so-so food (so I've heard)

Following my afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-in-the-Lake with my awesome friend Bridget (she is lovely but that word is getting played), I took some photos of their very pretty, very floral, very English high street named Queen Street, of course. (A funny fact - we noticed that they don't really age the Queen on notes in England, she's completely smooth in her 80s and we all know she didn't take the Joan Rivers route. So we showed a friend here a Canadian bill which shows her appropriately craggy face, and he had a good laugh at the extreme difference.)

           
   
  

 

 

A very pretty Sunflower umbrella displayed outside the shop

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Wallington's Walled Garden

Now we enter the walled garden at Wallington at last. After a beautiful walk in, past the mansion and past the lush lily pond with baby coots frollicking about and a bed floating in it, I came upon the wall and went through the wood and iron door. On the other side was the most stunningly landscaped garden with sheep grazing on the green hills that overlook this romantic dreamland.

 
 
  

I love the texture of this plant that I don't know the name of.

 

 
    
   

 

   
     

 

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! The Walk Into Wallington

(Apologies for missing Versailles which I promised for yesterday. We travelled back to Toronto to find that the cable and internet were out. So Rogers made a liar out of me. Ach. However, I am flagellating myself for not delivering, it's way overdue.) 

The proper title of this post is actually 'The Walk Into Wallington's Walled Garden' but that's a big of a tongue twister. Last week I showed you the incredible pond, dense with lily pads and frollicky baby coons, which is actually what's behind this gate after you've walked a couple of minutes through the forest:

And we continue the tour which makes no chronological sense at all because I'm taking you back to the beginning!

 

The mansion at Wallington is a real treasure trove of curiosities. Last year I showed you the dollhouse rooms but there's so much more and I'll get to it one day ...

   

Next week we finally get into the walled garden which is so beautiful you won't be able to stand it.

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday: Six Baby Birds and a Bed in a Pond

First - I've been travelling this week and am now in Toronto for my summer visit home. Next week I will get back to Interiors and Exteriors on Thursday and finish showing you Marie Antoinette's domain at Versailles...

I think Monet would have appreciated this scene. Carrying on from last Friday's intro to my visit to the walled garden at Wallington in Northumberland (in the north east of England in case you're not familiar), I take you to the pond which was a wonderful surprise on my way to the gardens. After walking through a forest we came upon the lily pad covered water and I noticed some movement on the surface - it was six fluffy black baby birds! I think they were coots, a marsh bird. They were so light that as they ran with their spindly legs the lily pads didn't even move.

 

Two other babies look for food amongst the firm yellow flowers:

 

What is that off in the distance?

Why, a bed of course!

I can't find anything about this bed which makes it even more mysterious. It's an installation, but who put it there? I don't really care why, it was neat. Like a (very) small-scale Cristo and Jean-Claude.

It started to pour. Luckily this was on my way out after being through the garden (see some of those next week) and it wasn't enough to deter me from taking another shot:

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Contrasts at Wallington

I went back to Wallington in Northumberland today to photograph their stunning walled garden which I missed when I visited last year. And had I actually known what I was missing I wouldn't never have been able to leave. Last time, I spent a couple of hours in the mansion, particularly in the dollhouse rooms which you can see here and here (I never did post anywhere near what I had altogether, I hope to dig out the rest one day).

These gardens quickly became my new favourite place and I'd love to go back with a picnic and just take it all in without my eyeball pressed against the viewfinder. A serene, huge pond covered in lily pads with baby coots (a black marsh bird) running atop greeted us on the way to the garden gate, and I couldn't pull myself away. (Somewhere my husband is nodding firmly and slowly with eyes glazed over.) Oh! And there was a red and white bed floating in it! Come back next Friday to see what I'm talking about.

To start, here are some of my favourite shots from a small patch in their enormous and breathtaking garden. The gardener seems to have wanted to create a bit of drama and planted a few varieties of vivid flowers with leaves so dark they appeared black. I especially love the first photo, the flowers appear as if they were painted.

 
 
  
 
 
 
 

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Neighbourhood Gardens (and Bad Dog Owners)

I walk home along the beach every day after taking my daughter to school (despite being knocked off my feet by a dog that charged full speed into my shins thanks to its owner throwing  a ball just over my head, and having a pug relieve itself in the brown way right beside me as I sat on a bench brushing the sand off my feet - the toff who owned him was on his mobile, looked over 'during' at the scene which could not have been more graphic, but kept walking. I had to call after him and was repeatedly ignored until I shouted "You have got to be kidding!" at which point he came back, feigning ignorance.) 

What's this post about? Right, one day last week on my walk I paid particular attention to the gardens of the houses on the seafront (which all have brilliantly painted doors. Which reminds me, we're overdue for a Painted Houses post.) It had just rained and the flowers looked absolutely beautiful with raindrops resting on their petals. They were in prime bloom. Today I had my camera with me, minus the lens I like to use to shoot flowers, but I took some pictures anyway. I noticed that a lot of the flowers were now in their ''twilight" phase and they had lost a bit of their lustre - rougher edges, fallen petals. But I went ahead anyway, trusting they still had something to give. The pink peonies certainly did, they were still gorgeous and I resisted rubbing my face in them. Do they compel you to do that, too?

Note: I do love dogs. It's the odd owner that could use a swat on the nose with a newspaper. That woman didn't even help me up after I face planted in the sand!

 
   
   

 

Photos © The Swelle Life

Floral Friday! Vivid Tulips

 

Welcome to the first Floral Friday! I've taken many photos of flowers, a favourite and irresistible subject, in England, France, Netherlands and Canada, with plans to take my camera to all of the stunning local gardens I pass on my local walks (which reinforces the notion that you should never be without it!), so I think all of this focussed activity necessitates a weekly outlet!

I'm starting with the tulips I photographed locally in early spring, their vivid hues make them some of my favourites. It was an overcast day and I was walking by an unassuming patch that I'd never seen before and luckily I had my camera with me, fitted with my new 50mm lens. The colours just popped as you can see. I haven't and don't want to use any effects on my photos, I'm going to present nice clean shots with naturally saturated colour, the way the flowers look in person. I can't think of anything more beautiful.

I'm also shooting a story for a US magazine on north east England castles and gardens, so there will be lots to keep this weekly feature going. I start my tour this weekend at Alnwick Garden and the timing couldn't be better - in their Ornamental Garden they have a Himalalyan Lily which flowers once every seven years, and it's in bloom!

    

Photos © The Swelle Life