Vintage Cool : BIBA and Beyond

I have a holy grail of vintage items that I'd like really to own and an original BIBA mannequin head has been right up there in my top 10 for as long as I can remember.

So pleased to have bagged this beauty on ebay last week!

I will of course pass it down to my own Biba one day (but not until she can keep her room tidy).

If you are a Biba fan get yourself down to the BIBA and Beyond Exhibition at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. This major new fashion exhibition celebrates the life and times of the charismatic, talented woman behind the brand, Barbara Hulanicki.

With loans from major collectors and private individuals the exhibition tells the amazing story of BIBA through illustrations, film, fashion, music and photography.

The exhibition runs until April 14th 2013. To book tickets and find out about the education program that is running alongside the exhibition visit www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk

That's my Biba's birthday outing sorted!

Would You Hit & Run?

Today began perfectly with some much needed, quality one to one time in town with Biba but within 10 minutes of arriving home our day was in tatters.

We put away our shopping and Biba went out on her bike but 2 minutes later she came racing up the drive shouting that Rex had been run over.

We both ran up the hill to where he was laying in a pool of blood. It must have just happened but there were no cars to be seen. 

He was alive, but only just and bleeding from his ears. I knew he wasn't going to make it. I scooped him up and held him close. He died in my arms.

How can someone simply keep on driving? What's wrong with people? We live on a straight road, a country lane so there are no parked cars or other potential places for a cat to jump onto the road out of nowhere. 

I know that the culprit hanging around wouldn't have saved him but what kind of person does something like that and just carries on driving? I'm gutted, the kids are gutted. Rex was such a cool kitty, he was more like a dog and would follow you wherever you went. He even attempted to get on the school bus with Sonny this week.

It's a sombre in the To house tonight.

We buried him in the garden under the plum tree that he loved to climb. I say we but Sonny insisted that he did it himself.

We will miss you Rexie. xxx

Loving the Polaroid Z2300 Camera

I've just fallen head over heels with this new Polaroid Z2300 camera. It's a good job it's my birthday soon. Nudge, hint...

Iconic Polaroid styling but packed with all the features you would expect from a modern 10MP digital camera but with the added awesomeness that it prints smudge-proof photos onto sticky back paper. 

Love, Love, Love it.

A little love goes a long way

Its not often that something stops me in my tracks and makes me feel truly happy but this did today...

Not sure what I did to prompt that Tweet but I do know that I'm so lucky to have met such an amazing bunch of people online that I now class as my closest friends.

If you are getting hitched, having a baby or just fancy glamming yourself up and having some amazing photographs taken, my pal Jay aka @Cosmicgirlie is your gal.

JayMountfordPhotography.co.uk

BURN : The Stunning collection by Yan To

In this landmark collection, Yan To introduces the fusion of industrial elastics with delicate silk chiffon to create pieces that encapsulate the marriage of these two very different textiles. 

A new tiled technique is debuted in stark contrast to the random layering seen in previous collections and a new concept in body-con presents a dress that looks even more spectacular on a real sized woman, with real curves.

Yan To’s signature black palate is contrasted with nude tones and a stunning, bright cobalt blue to create rich deep textures. 

BURN also saw the use of fire to release colour hues and shapes trapped inside the materials. This blowtorching directly onto dresses, created some striking results.

17 looks crafted from obsession and containing over 4,000 individually prepared pieces of elastic make up the full aesthetically pioneering collection from Yan To SS13.

See the full collection at www.yan-to.com

burn : verb 1. To undergo rapid combustion or consume fuel in such a way as to give off heat and usually light.2. To feel heat or a physiologically similar sensation.

Car Boot Cool : Big Eye

Zipped out to our local car boot sale with Biba and Purdy (our Westie) this morning. Not a great haul but we did get this cool Big Eye print for 20p.

And the two cats at the front of the pic for 50p each, they fit perfectly with our collection that resides in the the bathroom.

Did you buy anything good this weekend?

20th Design - Tripp Trapp®

I'm a lover of style, beauty and simplicity in design. Clean lines, sensuous curves, stark angular shapes, Art Deco, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Clarice Cliff, Bauhaus, Eames. 

Yet when challenged with writing about my favourite 20th Century design, it simply had to be an icon that I have lived with and used for the last ten years, the Stokke® Tripp Trapp®.

Stokke® Tripp Trapp® 2012

When I was pregnant with Sonny back in 2000, I spent hours searching through magazines hoping to find alternatives to the standard plastic baby product hell that was ready to engulf me. I wasn't ready to loose my identity and my home just because I was about to become a parent again. My search seemed fruitless and then just before I gave birth, I found it.
IT, was to become the object of my desire for nearly two whole years before it became part of my life but by that point I was properly hooked and in the space of two short weeks I owned not one but two and my love for it would actually go on to shape my career and my whole life.

It is of course the Stokke® Tripp Trapp®, the chair designed back in 1972 (the year I was born), that  would revolutionise children's seating. Thanks to designer Peter Opsvik, a child could now sit comfortably and ergonomically at a table, no matter their age or size. But that's not why I fell in love with it.
For me, it's quite simply the simplicity and beautify of form and even after ten years in my life, I still get a random chill when I look at it from certain angles. Crazy right?!

Stokke® Tripp Trapp® 1972

My Tripp Trapp® story has a little twist though because in 2003 Stokke® launched their first ever pushchair and they were looking for someone to handle the PR launch in the UK.
With my near obsessive product love and a new baby in hand, I was clearly the right choice for the job.

The last nine years has seen many changes in my life but Sonny's original Tripp Trapp® sits at my kitchen table alongside Biba's, Betty's, Yan's and mine. It's looking weathered, lived in, loved.
Sit on someone else's Tripp Trapp® in this house and you are taking your life into your hands.
It's not simply a chair, its an extension of their being. If you want someone to take ownership of something in this house, or simply for them to put it away, you put it on their Tripp Trapp.
If they want to eat...ever...then their Tripp Trapp needs not to be covered in stuff.
Its a great ploy that I've developed over the years. It works, so if you have kids and Tripp Trapp's I suggest you engage this tactic without delay.

When a product is celebrated time and time again by leading designers, historians and curators around the world you know it's pretty special.

Tripp Trapp® celebrates its 40th birthday this year yet this iconic chair is still modern in every single way.

I've had the pleasure of spending time with Tripp Trapp's designer, Peter Opsvik. He's inspiring, calming, practical and amazing. Traits you can see oozing out of each and every one of the products he has crafted throughout his career.

Peter Opsvik's original Tripp Trapp® development sketches

I asked him once, how the chair that he created 40 years ago was still being hailed as the epitome of modern design. He replied that he simply didn't follow fashion and of course he is spot on. If Tripp Trapp® had been inspired by early 70's design it would now look very dated indeed.

Do take time to visit Peter Opsvik's website to be inspired by more of his designs. If there is one chair that I would love in my life more than any other it is Garden. I live in hope that I will one day discover one of these amazing chairs on the market. I WANT!

This is my entry into Little Greene's 20th Century Design competition. Find out more at http://www.littlegreene.com/retro

Secure yourself online with AVG Internet Security 2013

For the last few days I’ve been in NYC as a guest of Cybher sponsors, AVG to be introduced to their new product AVG 2013.

Being a Mac user I haven’t used internet security softwear for the last five years and things are certainly way more advanced now than they were back in the day. I’ve been happy to drift along in a self constructed virus free bubble of ignorance but after being directed to read the story of how tech journalist @Mat recently had his whole digital life hacked I suddenly feel totally vulnerable and that scares the hell out of me.

I wrongly presumed myself to be digitally aware. It turns out I was very wrong.

The hackers managed to destroy @Mat’s digital life simply by getting access to his Amazon and Mac accounts. It turns out that for identification purposes Apple use the last four digits of your credit card number, the very ones that Amazon blank out. Get access to both these accounts and you have full credit card and address details and with that you really can be erased.

The hackers simply wanted to gain control of @Mat’s cool three character Twitter name to out how easy it was for someone to take his life. In the process they remotely wiped his iPhone and his Mac and with them all the photographs he had taken of his daughter’s first year.

Scared yet?

It’s horrifying but lets hope not totally in vain. I felt sick when I read his story and immediately set about changing my log ins and ensuring that one account wasn’t piggybacking on another.

Its heavy stuff and its hassle wading through all of your accounts to put your digital security in order but @Mat’s story has taught me that you absolutely have to do this now – before its too late.

If you answer YES to any of the following questions you are at risk too.

Do you use the same username, email and password for multiple accounts and profiles?

Do you share your passwords with anyone?

Do you use the same prefix for multiple email accounts; ie sian@me.com, sian@gmail.com? 

If you're a PC, you can download AVG Internet Security 2013 free or if you’d like access to additional features opt for the paid for AVG Premium Security 2013. 

If you use an android phone and you aren’t using security, download AVG Antivirus for Mobile now. Your phone and all of the information contained on it are at risk too.

If you are a Mac, unfortunately Apple make it very difficult for third parties such as AVG to gain access to the iOS operating system that runs all of it’s products but they do have an iOS compatible product that can be used if you run Chrome rather than Safari on your device. Download AVG Family Safety for iOS.

A very big thank you to Jas, Jill, Tony and the whole AVG team for their hospitality in NYC and for opening my eyes.

AVG were an official sponsor of Cybher 2012. Their products are used by around 125 million people worldwide.

Yan To : BURN

I don't want to put words to this post really. I don't think that anything that I can say can really do justice to Yan's latest collection. 

I've seen each piece grow day by day and his vision and creativity has truly inspired me. Here's a sneak peek from behind the scenes of his shoot last week...

Yan To : BURN

These are my highly edited teaser pics. Full collection coming soon.

www.yan-to.com