Jewels of my eyes

So, as any of you who follow me on twitter will know (MissSisiG for those who don’t yet), last night I enjoyed my first Pimms of the summer at Treasure exhibition as part of London Jewellery week. I had that Thursday feeling (ya know, the opp. of that Friday one) so nearly didn’t go...but by golly I’m happy I did. As you all should know by now bling is my thing, and to use a much over-used cliché (which in itself is probably one!) I was like a kid in a candy shop. There was just so much beauty, aspiration, creativity and general fabulousness all in one room – it was so up-lifting and inspirational. There’s still a chance to go down and take a look for yourself, but for those of you in far-off lands…and those in London who are too lazy to get the bus into town – here’s my lowdown of the Top ten designers to watch and spend your pennies with!


Amanda Brighton
This Anglo-Tibetan jeweller makes uber-luxe fine jewellery with a playful, almost gaudy edge. I just LOVE this Dolce Vita Onyx ring with amethyst and pink sapphires set in 18k gold. Me me me!


Sarah HK Park
Slightly strange, almost aquatic creations predominantly made from gold plated silver and glass – so prices are much lower than you’d expect (although she also does commissions in which case you can choose more expensive materials). Really good for birthday presents me thinks!


Sarah Herriot Design
Really strong architectural pieces – perfect for making a bold statement. I particularly love this 18ct gold Manhattan egg ring half twist. I think it’s entrancing, and has a wonderful sense of movement. Beautiful.


Rebecca Steiner
Really neat, precise, delicate fine jewellery, such as this very very pretty 18 carat gold necklace with a basket of pearls, £650. Yummy!


Jessica de Lotz
Looking for something more than a little different….maybe even slightly crazy? Then look no further than Jessica de Lotz – one girl with one crazy imagination and vision. From blinking eye cocktail rings with black diamond eyes, to apple core necklaces, it’s more of an experience than a piece of jewellery!


Elinor Voytal
Elinor is a trained textile designer, and creates beautiful Missoni-esque fine knits which she brings together with hard metals and crystals to create beautiful, original pieces. No idea's original, but Elinor’s work is about as close as it gets!


Yumeko Yamada
Really strong sculptural pieces, beautifully made. I tried on this pearl ring, and can honestly say it was the most comfortable ring I’ve ever worn (and believe me, these here fingers have tried a few)!


Ye Ji Kim
Ye Ji’s pieces are quite reminiscent of Alexis Bittar’s work – but I think that’s a good thing as I’m a massive Bittar fan. Her pieces are quite aggressive, but I think they’d be easy to wear everyday, and also to incorporate with other pieces of jewellery. Can’t wait to see what she’ll do next!


Joanna Dahdah
Like many of the exhibitors Joanna is a recent Central St Martins graduate, and this, unbelievably is her debut collection, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s paintings; definitely someone I’ll be keeping an eye on!


Jayce Wong
Did you know that 1/3 of diamonds and top coloured rubies are naturally fluorescent? No, me neither! Well they are, and these are the precious stones Jayce Wong works with to create her incredible ‘glowing’ pieces. She’s already stocked at Kabiri, so check her out! I’m totally mesmerised by this Spiral ring, £800....am thinking it would make a brilliant and different engagement ring – no?

Best of the rest


Forget up-lights, down-lights and spotlights – when it comes to impressive lighting look no further than Penelope Batley’s Big Bling Necklace Light - A-MA-ZING! Mr T, eat your heart out!



Finally a MASSIVE congratulations to the lovely girls at the Gaudion Bowerbank boutique who won the ‘designer of the year award’ last night. Their wonderful online boutique is home to a handful of brilliant jewellery designers including New Yorker Heather Kosch, who mainly works with exotic woods. Check. Them. Out – that’s an order!

Signing off for now.

Sisi G xx

Oui oui Paradis!

Only a short snappy post tonight as I’m beyond tired. Just saw new French romcom Heartbreaker (which is embargoed, which is a shame as I would have said it’s brill go see), and have come out with a simply MASSIVE girl crush obsession with Vanessa Paradis (yes, I know, like 10 million years later!). She’s just imperfect perfection…in fact, as I type this I am desperately trying to saw a Paradis-alike gap between my front teeth with a blunt emery board. No joke.

To console myself, and all you other 'Paradites' out there, I’ve unearthed this totally awful cringe inducing youtube clip of the 14 year old ‘Nessa singing a song about a taxi driver called Joe. Unfortunately she still has the same vomit-inducing body, but hey the song's crap! Wow – feeling less self-loathsome already!

Off to have sweet Paradis/ Depp / me in a hot-tub dreams.

TTFN xx

Confessions of a former cycling shorts connoisseur

After weeks of mercilessly slagging cycling shorts and their wearers off, I’m……well……let’s just say considering a change of heart and mind. You see, truth be known in my younger years I was a rather fervent cycling shorts wearer. From neon lycra to grey cotton; on their own or under skirts and denim shorts – I wore my vast collection of cycling shorts frequently and with pride. Then I got older, grew some hips…oh, and the ‘90’s ended, and with the rest of the civilised world my cycling shorts were sent to the back of my cupboard of fashion regrets and shame.

However this weekend after not one, but two positive encounters with cycling shorts (see images below), and one rather frustrating encounter with a vest (too short as dress, but too long/ loose to wear with denim shorts or a skirt) I’m seriously considering rehabilitating them.


Random girl
On Friday night, inbetween drowning sorrows in vodka, and stalking Anne Hathaway, I spotted this girl – my first real life cycling shorts sighting. I liked.

My friend Zoe
Then on Saturday night my good friend Zoe text me to say she was wearing a pair! I obvs insisted on a pic, and her boyf promptly whizzed this over. Good work Zo – top fash points I say! Also like her reasoning - surely cycling shorts are just summer leggings? Good point well made, no?


Inspiration (aka. Totally out of my crappy budget!)

Louis Vuitton
Yes, I know I slated these/ the image of me in them the other day, but hell to it – I want them, I’d rock them, and what’s more I’d get a massive blonde afro to match, so there!

Chanel
What can you say, I mean Karl has even managed to make cycling shorts look chic and stylish – nothing compares….


Options (more in my current budget - sob wail)

ToSho
Comfortable, practical, and simple; I’m thinking these might be a good first step back on the cycling short ladder…..or are they just a really boring cop-out?

Costume Dept, ASOS
So you have to imagine that you’ll only really be seeing the bottoms of them….obviously no crouch exposure in these (as it would be full exposure, and I’m not crazy/ stupid/ Britters)….


Friends, family, strangers and people who clicked onto the blog by mistake - all help/ opinions/ advice kindly received…..Danke xxx

Being smug in Dalston and getting a pervy massage in return...

I've been trying not to go and out party so much this last week, and it's not been easy. How is it that gin, vodka, beer, cider and red wine have become such integral players in my life?!

Anyway, despite all the vodka on Friday night I managed to meet my friend Kat at London Fields/ Broadway market at 11.30am yesterday for Saturday smugness. It kills me to admit how much I love a LF/BM Saturday stroll....all those happy smiley gorgeous people, all that organic free-range food - no matter how much I try and hate it, it just ends up making me feel all warm, fuzzy and content - damn it!


While I scoffed my 5th croissant of the week (yes, diet still going brilliantly, thanks) Kat tucked into an extra-smug portion of organic vegan burger and quinoa salad for breakfast - twat.


Yes, that’s right, only on Broadway Market would you not be laughed at/ stoned/ publicly ridiculed for selling/ buying ONE SINGLE SLICE of watermelon for £1.50! Shocking!....Oh, but wait a minute, it’s ICED watermelon. Oh, well if it’s iced it’s definitely worth a whole £1 and 50 pence….NOT!
p.s. we were much amused to later see it reduced to 50p – massive lol!


Proof once and for all that Bruno was not a work of pure fiction….


BeReCreative festival

The Hackney recycling team’s BeReCreative event sought to bring smugness to Hackney’s youngest residence….and we think they succeded. Phew!

After a busy morning eating and bathing in the sun Kat and I decided to treat ourselves to a massage. I, as usual, got more than I bargained for, when my male masseuse took a bit of a shine to me. Not only did I get 45 minutes of action despite only paying for 30 (two people came to tell him he’d run over, but still he kept on), but particularly creepy occurances were as follows:
- Repeatedly being asked if I was enjoying it/ how I was feeling
- Mr masseuse struggling to undo my bra (just typing this has made me sick in my mouth a little)
- After spending 30 mins on my back, and then saying he’d do my legs anyway, telling me, “I enjoy doing the legs the most”
- "You have nice skin"

Yes, it was a massage to remember……a shower quickly followed.


Meanwhile…..Mr and Mrs recycling kept the kids amused…


….and there was yet another chance to buy socially aware friendly knitted food. Brilliant!


I on the other hand opted for (an admittedly extremely posh) cheese burger – de-lish. What can I say – I’m a giant hypocrite!


Oh yes. And I saw this. There are no words. I brought a pair of these in Primark a few months ago to wind my friend Seb up – AS A JOKE. This guy was wearing them because it was sunny and he’s a cock. Fact.

Not quite Gaga

Why are short weeks always such a total cassé mes couilles (apparently that’s French for ball ache – thought it sounded a bit more lady like)?! Urgh – they really do take all the joy out of a 3-day weekend! This one’s been particularly eventful, so I was most pleased when my friend Cazza said she take me to CGH to drown my sorrows after work.

So, we’re sitting there and these two big SUV’s turn up and she convinces me they’re for Gaga. So I start hyperventilating and trying to figure out whether to play it cool or jump her, when this complete bunch of randoms get in. What a let down! Well, that did nothing to better my mood. Then, all of a sudden Caroline said, ‘that’s Anne Hathaway’. I looked and all I could see was a totally av girl in a beyond av outfit wearing massive fuck-off headphones, and after the whole Gaga thing I’d totally lost faith in Cazza’s celeb judgement. So off I tottered to hunt her down, and sure enough, there in bloody Oddbins in Covent Garden was Anne frigging Hathaway – whooda thought it! V proud of my shot – Cazza didn’t think I’d get one, paps watch ya backs! Love it – Anne Hathaway goes to Oddbins and buys a couple of bottles to take back to the Covent Garden hotel….you’d have thought on her salary she’d have been able to afford room service, no?!

Best day ever: Part 3

Yes, we're on the final stage of my ‘best day ever’ marathon....jealous yet?! Well, if not, ladies (and gay men), this might push you over the edge. After buying some nicely discounted Louboutin's and trying on some stylish shades I then tottered/ hobbled off to a preview screening of the cultural phenomenon that is SATC2 aka. THE only thing anyone's talking about at the mo (in my world at least).

You'll be happy to hear I'm not going to bang on about it (mainly because it's 8.30 on a Friday night, and I'm still in the office, and I'd quite like to go and drink some red wine and watch crap tv). I will however say this:

Yes, I liked it. No, I don't think it was the best film ever made, or that it did justice to the series, or that it's Oscar worthy; but I did enjoy watching it (for the most part). I didn't think it was racist. I think there were majorly cringe-worthy parts, and that the plot came galloping towards you like "Lawrence of my labia" (don't get? That's because you haven't seen it yet, he he), but I'd watch it again....in pj's, with some wine/ a hangover. Basically I think it is what it is - a silly girly romcom with THE MOST HERMES-ZING WARDROBE IN-THE-WORLD. Patricia Field utterly excelled herself, and there was hardly a scene where I didn’t get palpitations/ wasn’t overcome with total and utter ugly, selfish, capitalist, consumer society, greedy, green-with-envy jealousy – and ironically, for me, that was enough.

Oh – and Liza was incredible!

Best day ever: Part 2

So….you’d think that a Christian Louboutin sample sale would be enough excitement for one day…..maybe even for one lifetime, but not for me. Last night (after the work/ office bit we’re not thinking about) I headed off for a spot more (window) shopping. This time it was all about the sunnies, and not just any sunnies, but exciting new Austrailian ones which have just landed in the UK, thanks to two lovely (and really very clever) ladies called Rebecca and Marie-Claire (introduced to me by my dear friend Jane, aka. Squirrel). Now, I’ve never been to Oz, but I’ve heard rumours that it gets rather warm down under (ahem), and that they know a thing or two about summer gear, so I was super-excited to see what they had to offer. I wasn’t disappointed. There were three brands on display (one was men’s though, so I’m afraid I didn’t pay it much attention – sorry boys). For us lovely ladies there were the spontaneous-purchase-priced Le Specs and the let-me-sleep-on-them Karen Walker’s. I obviously fell head-over-heels (or should I say frames, boom boom) for the Karen Walker’s. Well I would wouldn’t I! More than just sleep on it I thought I’d ask for some expert advice from you guys on which, if any, I should purchase. Ooh, and bare in mind they’re approx. £170 ouch….sorry I mean each!

p.s. all donations welcome!

p.p.s. for those of you who want in on the action both brands will be stocked at Tosho, Urban Outfitters, and asos.com soon - handy andy!


Numero uno: Righteous
These jumped out at me straight away, and I was sure they were going to be perfect for me. Round, gold frames, tortoise shell arms – they had my name all over them. Once on my face I wasn’t so sure though…..


Numero dos: Rover
So, not a fan of the name, but these are actually my personal favourites. I’ve convinced myself that fluoro orange goes with….you guessed it, ev-er-y-thing! Please tell me I’m not being totally crazy – these are hot, right?


Numero tres: Number Six
Probably the most sensible and safest option. I do like these, don’t get me wrong, but…..I don’t know, they’re just, like, black. I really do like the thickness of the frame though, and these really would go with a lot I guess. Hhhmmmm…

So, please help me. Be good people, and post your comments/ advice below. Cheers xx