The Ultimate Luxe Guide To Interiors, Travel & Style
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
Gucci is imminently launching an inspired, decorative home ware line!
Drum roll please…. in less than 2 weeks Gucci’s
first home ware line - Gucci Décor, will be landing in the shops. I don’t
understand why there hasn’t been a fanfair for this unveiling, for any fashion
and interiors aficionados like myself will be absolutely smitten. I’ve been
privy to the new collection and it is utterly joyful, bursting with the
contemporary spirit of Alessandro Michel, the label's creative director.
Alessandro Michele has made his love of
interiors abundantly clear during his tenure at Gucci and so this homeware
collection is no suprise. I noticed a sneak peak of this collection at his Resort 2017 show held inside the
Cloisters at Westminster Abbey in London (the first time any fashion house has
been granted access to do so). I found it incredible that the images that flooded the fashion industry’s
Instagram feeds from this historic show were the hand-embroidered cushions
placed on each seat!
There are also scented candles,
metal trays, and small porcelain pieces by Richard Ginori, a Florentine
porcelain-maker established in 1735. With more than 30 eclectic pieces, the
prices range from $190 (for candles and incense trays) to $30,000 for
beautifully printed silk screens.
Here are my favourite porcelains:
The collection will not have a dedicated
space in stores, instead being integrated with
clothes and accessories, "the idea is not to prescribe a particular
decorative look, but to provide elements that allow for living spaces to be
customised," the house said.
I like this playful but also modest approach
of styling out your interior with a couple of awesome pieces, which is all
you’d need to show off Michele’s current romanticism style that I absolutely love.
My shopping list includes these pieces:
Hotel Pulitzer is prize winning
I research
hotels in A LOT of detail because it’s a key ingredient in every trip I make;
sometimes the end goal. I absolutely love hotels – where else can you be looked
after in such visually stimulating and inspiring surroundings? It’s that gorgeous
cocooning feeling of ‘going home’ when you’re in your early twenties, but you’re
in a hotel of the most incredible architecture and interior design, and it’s
this side of the experience where I feel the magic of a hotel.
I want a
hotel that demonstrates the envelope of interior design has been really explored
and pushed, and hotels are quite unique in the way one can really experience,
appreciate and judge the designs. So this is where I am coming from when I tell
you about a hotel and I will only report back on the hotels you need to add to
your own lists!
My first ‘to
stay’ is the Hotel Pulitzer in Amsterdam and it has a fabulous heritage you
couldn’t make up. In 1969 Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of the Pulitzer Prize
founder, joined 25, 17th and 18th century canal
houses into a hotel. These beautiful houses are alive with history and are protected from
structural changes not only because of their special heritage but also because
they sit on the canals – today the trendiest canal location in Amsterdam.
The hotel was
reopened last autumn after enormous necessary renovations and deserves acclaim on the merits of this huge historical
undertaking and in honour of the creative director of the hotel, Jacu Strauss
who slept in and then fashioned each of the 225 guest rooms over 3 years. The
result is a reinvented Dutch masterpiece – blending architecture, furniture,
colours and themes from 3-400 years ago with contemporary design and for a
contemporary, design-led audience. For me, the quality of the materials, the
sourcing of authentic pieces, the attention to detail in the architecture and
this eclectic mix of furniture, which have come together effortlessly to create
a mood overflowing with character and style set this hotel apart.
No two rooms
are the same and all have a really elegant, light and spacious feel, which
comes as a nice surprise from the labrinth of corridors. Most bedrooms feature
bold colours, inspired by the colours of Amsterdam past and present and all
have beautifully weighty mattresses and all the mod cons. I fell for the bar
carts with cut crystal glasses and delicious alcohols and decanters. There are four Collector’s Suites inspired by past
famous people of Amsterdam, their unique narratives played out with fantastic
design details. The Art Collector’s Suite features a collection of paintings
and sculptures to rival one of the city’s museums. 
The hotel has a bistro restaurant, Janz,
which is absolutely one to book (and is often booked up) for its slick menu and
brilliant people-watching and a café, Pause, which is super cool with delicious
food. What I like is the beautiful colours and materials – Janz with its marble
tables and dusty pink walls and Pause has emerald Gubi chairs and industrial
materials in an airy garden setting.
Bar is a
dimly-lit, sumptuous space to go a sip expertly-crafted cocktails that follow
the theme of blending old and new from the comfort of a deep-cushioned chaise.
The Pulitzer
is a five star hotel with all the trappings and without any pretence. The look of luxury is inescapable
yet it succeeds at creating a quintessential experience of Amsterdam –
eclectic, quirky, relaxed, etc. I personally love eclectic styling and the mix
of old and new, and this hotel completely nails it in an authentic, effortless
and inspired way.
Bringing the Hey day to the here and now
Hollywood Regency, which is the style of
Hollywood in its heyday of the 20’s to the 50’s, has a truly sumptuous and unashamedly
glamorous appeal. Its an aesthetic rather than a trend that resurges every few years and I absolutely love the key pieces from this super glam era. You only have to show me some of the pieces from the above pictures and I swoon.
I wouldn’t necessarily design an all out
Hollywood Regency themed interior, (unless of course it was for an LA-based
bar, which would in fact be awesome) just as any dominant interior style can be
overbearing on its own, but loosely decorating in this aesthetic adds decadence, sophistication and old world magic. The kitchen below and that dining room table, I mean.....
The appeal of Hollywood
Regency to me is mixing old with new and infusing contemporary schemes with a
regency twist. The style works so well with so many other interior styles that
it can be an injection in terms of its hallmark colour palette, furniture and
fixtures, the prints and so many other components that make up Hollywood
Regency.
Some of the key components to
look out for include: bold geometric prints and large stripes, dramatic black and white schemes, bold colours like fuschia and yellow, Chinoiserie, lacquer and
mirrored furniture, tactile
textures, and pronounced gold and silver detailing. All the images here point to what I mean.
If you are colour confident, the strong and contrasting colours and finishes of Hollywood regency create really sophisticated and stunning results. The key is to notice that the palette is always restricted so the look is actually very tailored and glamorous.
I love the prints from this era which illustrate some beautiful geometric prints as well as wider stripes, neo classical prints and leafy patterns. Art Deco & Art Noveau where all the range in this period.
Accessorising is fun way to introduce Hollywood regency so flourish with abandon like the movie stars of the golden age did with a heavy emphasis on cocktail shakers and bar ware and channel gold, perspex and bold patterns to convey a look of opulence and OTT style.
The dressing table is one of the key pieces of furniture from the days when the Hollywood actresses would get ready. These fur seats are really popular at the moment and are such a fun, frivilous piece. You might start to notice the detailing of the period including lucite, gold and brass handles.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Picking plums
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| Click here for the link to the left image and click here for the link to the image on the right :) |
I am heralding one of the key colours
to dominate the world of interiors in 2018 as PLUM. It’s a shade we all
know and love, but is rare to interiors for no good reason. Plum is stunning:
strong and warming. It was coming....I watched with glee as blush turned to putty, morphing through jewel red into the earthy tones like terracotta and I can tell you now for sure: it will rocket forward with plum.
I’ve been rather overdosed this past
year with not instantly loveable colours like Greenery and some of the paler
pinks were too 80’s for me. But plum I love: it has the warmth of red, the drama
of purple, the moodiness of black and the decadence of claret.
I know I push for being colour
confident, but I honestly believe that ‘going big’ allows that colour to really
show off its innate mood and qualities properly. A token dab of plum is lovely,
but go for a wall or a big piece and this rich and inviting shade will come to
life.
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| Click here for the image on the left and here for the image on the right :) |
From the above pictures, you get a true sense of plum reigning on its own. Now I'm not backing down from plum but the line between bordeaux and marsala is very thin in the light and I found most images cropped up in all three word searches. So if you are looking for inspiration, just bear it in mind. Plum has a blue-black to it that that marsala and wine colours lack and are more red so plum is actually my preference because it has a heediness and darkness to it.
With every colour you can work a
palette to suit your style and bring in accent colours that perhaps you already
have. Plum is a strong shade so if you love interiors exuding mood and drama, matt and textural fabrics, dynamic pieces and playing with light, then go for other intense shades and watch the room come to life. I think it looks outrageously fab in a split complimentary or rectangular scheme combining analogous colours including brown and terracotta with complimentary colours like teal, blue and emerald green.
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| Click here for the link to the top left image; here for the top right image; here for the above left and here for above right. |
These above are stunning & dramatic interiors and plum looks beautiful with statement
finishes and materials including gold, marble and velvet. However plum has lots
of other gentler and lighter palettes that will create a romantic, bohemian and
sensual style. Tones like cream, lilac, blush and lighter tones of teal and
brown work beautifully with plum. Here is some inspo of plum with white:
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| Click here for the link to the image on the left; here for the central image and here for the image on the right :) |
If you have any thoughts or feedback about plum, let me know :-)
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Monday, August 7, 2017
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