Innocent pleasures.

Being young, free, and single in London can all too easily lead an innocent girl into temptation. Dangle the carrot of bright lights, late nights and chiselled jawlines in front of us, and in no time were toddling off in 5 inch heels and skirts up to here. So, before we start getting all Amy Winehouse, it’s important to take a step back from the edge and enjoy the simpler, more innocent things in life. If only to have something credible to tell our Mothers!

Here are a few ideas for getting up to some good for a change!

1. 10 Pin Bowling
Once the only place for under-18s to while away their mis-spent youths, bowling appears to have become chic again thanks, in large part, to places like the All Star Lanes. Make like Chachi and Joanie and rock n roll down at the Lanes!



2. Pedal boating on Serpentine
This is the Londoner's equivalent of Oxbridge punting and with slightly less call for silly hats, falling in, and an IQ of 120. Looks easy but is surprising hard work on the old thigh muscles. I've been known to spend hours just going round and round in circles as the sun sets behind Harrods, but there is fun to be had if you know what you're doing! And have someone else to pedal!



3. Crockery painting in Fulham
Sounds a bit twee, but after a morning spent nibbling choccie biccies, listening to classical music and let your artistic flair run wild, you emerge feeling like a whole new person! Go to The Pottery Cafe and paint your own Emma Bridgewater plate!



4. Sing-a-long at Prince Charles cinema

Funny how easily one can recall every single lyric to the Sound of Music given half the chance. Proves there is some purpose to watching it 16 times a day as an ankle-biter! Only £1.50 at the Prince Charles Cinema! Fun and bargainalicious!



5. Attend a public lecture.
A little education never did anyone any harm, so get your geek-chic on down at one of the LSE public lecture series. The Relationshhip between Strategy and Identity in a Transnational Environmental Network? Pass me my notepad!

I'm posting live from a National Express train on my way to Leeds. Internet on trains! Modern technology, eh!? It'll be jet-packs and gravity boots all round in no time!

Is it totally un-PC to love this coat?

And, inkeeping with the theme of ‘two of a kind’, go green with this twiggy memory stick from the MoMa store.



...or O.C.D functional with this Folder-style memory card from Lebedev.

Birds of a feather genuinely do flock together...

This has been on my bedroom wall since July. Wall sticker from Super Nice on Columbia Road.



While I spotted this in this morning’s Metro. From Ferm Living at Mode21.co.uk.

Having my cake and eating it.

Had one of those gastronomically glamorous weekends which took me from a late lunch at Wahaca to a delicious cocktail at Browns on Saturday and culminated in a sumptuous high tea at Flash - the too-cool-for-school pop-up cafe at the back of the Royal Academy.



My companion and I were guided by the bright green and pink posters which had an undercurrent of "if it is neon, the cool, young people will come". Once through the doors we were faced with wooden container boxes, which masked what turned out to be a - somewhat underdressed - eating space. The waiting staff were a little too good-looking and just the wrong side of charming, while the shockingly un-credit crunchy prices were explained away through 'served in limited edition Wedgwood china'. Well, in that case!

The tea, however, was pretty damn good. So much so, we felt the need to walk off our finger sandwiches, petit-fours, and scones with a spin round Fortnums. Sundays in London can be so delightful!

Last night two very secretive, niche and impenetrable worlds collided in the Harrod’s food hall. Namely a select group of individuals from the blogging world attended an artisan chocolate tasting hosted by key players from the world of high-grade chocolate. At first, the bloggers blinking in the light after emerging from behind their computer screens, were a little shy, but in no time the chocolatiers had their tastebuds in over-drive as they tried to differentiate 85% from 60%, Ecuador from Papua New Guinea.



The chocolate world has depths and darknesses that even that even the most cocoa-y of bars cannot aspire to. Far more elitist than a wine society, and tighter-knit than a knitting circle, the movers and shakers in chocolate are not to be messed with. Their senses have been finely attuned to even the smallest nuance, allowing them to identify bean origin and cocoa percentage with just one sniff.



The chocolate in question was Galler – not a brand I have previously been acquainted with, but of very good Belgium heritage. In fact, the PR told me, the first chocolate company to receive the Belgium Royal Warrent. Oh la la. I have a bit of a background in chocolate (no, that's not a euphemism for the size of my hiney!), so felt very much under the spotlight as we began the blind tasting. But the distinctive berry, smokey and vanilla notes that flooded my senses as we worked through the selection set my mind at ease and confirmed that we were dealing with some seriously serious chocolate.



Available to buy online at www.gallerchocolates.co.uk and from the LOVELY Sarah in the Harrods food hall. PLUS get 10% discount when you use this exclusive promo code: MV7-A97-ZFX

www.blazingcameras.com

Away in a (Pret A) Manger!

Come ye merry gentlemen, for today I officially marked the end of rainy, miserable Winter and heralded the start of shiney, tinsel-covered Festive Season by purchasing the celebrated Pret Christmas sandwich. That's certainly put a partridge in my pear tree!

A blog's life

According to Wired, blogging is dead. I'm not quite sure what they're basing that on, but, in my view, it couldn't be further from the truth. Certainly, I am often coming across corporate blogs which have petered out and have been left unattended since March of last year and, at the other end of the spectrum, I am constantly hearing of good blogs leading on to bigger and better things. Namely, a high-profile job for Susie Bubble at Dazed and Confused, a book deal for Wife in the North and international fame for Perez Hilton. But that is not to say that what goes on in between is not unique, profound or vital.

I read a whole host of blogs on every topic from design to news to cooking and nearly always find them way ahead of the game in terms of information and trends. Indeed, when I was working for a product development agency, we relied heavily on the blogs to give us an insight into where the 'buzz' was.



From a personal point of view, blogging is like pushing back the fur coats and finding Narnia. Suddenly the normal, everyday world around me is a mine-field of ideas. From my camera phone to the Internet, I can harness the modern world and tie it down to make one succinct and immediate point. It costs me nothing, I don't have to get approval from an editor and if people don't like it they can just click on.

Blogs may die when their owners go to critical acclaim heaven, but blogging is far from dead. It is very much alive and kicking.

Click here to read the Wired article

The beat of drums gets ever closer, fire light cuts through the night, gunpowder smoke fills the air. The Rye Bonfire is upon us again.

Long-term relationships.

It's not often one finds something you're prepared to commit to in the long-term, especially not in the region of hair care. Men may come and go, but I can't imagine ever having relationship issues with Green Tea and Mandarin shampoo from 4th floor.



Speaking of the beauty industry, I've spent a large part of this working week researching trends in skincare. Who knew that, for $49 one could buy a tube of 'neck contouring' gel? Or that one designer beauty brand has released a serum that is jet black in colour? What's that about?

Is it just me, or did this video, this pairing, this look mark the start of the current youth movement? Would I be going out on a limb to say that this was the first time Shoreditism went mainstream?

Tee's me, tee's me!

I'm very excited to showcase new t-shirt brand, Rizzo Tees. Who doesn't want a little bit of Barack in their lives right now? 364 electoral votes can't be wrong.



Or, if politics ain't you bag, why not go for... simple yet to the point.



In fact, use this code (3JBEE84C) when you order any Rizzo Tee and get 20% off your purchase! Exclusively through Camilla's Store.

Election night.

Why is British politics never as exciting as all this? A friend of the Mothership spotted this Obama cookie in Eleni's Bakery in Manhatten's Chelsea Market. She says 'all the Baracks sell out, but the McCains sit there with the Halloween ghoul candies....'

Come on Obama!!!

You have mail!

It's not often that one actively invites unknown emails into your inbox, but in the name of research I have recently signed up to some of the more cooler, cutting edge newsletters. Among them, that of The Cool Hunter. Naturally, it's not a patch on Camilla's Store - they introduced United Nude (see shoes below) as if they were first to the party, while I've been rocking my wedges to great acclaim for nearly two years! Nevertheless, it never does any harm to keep an eye on the competition.



E-newsletters

The Cool Hunter
Urban Junkies
Daily Candy

Westfield: the verdict

In a word, I love it. But then, two things were going to make me biased towards it from the beginning. In the first instance, I was working on the project, understood its' purpose and worked directly with the team who brought it to life. In the second instance I am a total mall-rat. Give me a corridor of air-conditioned, retail opportunities and I'm in heaven.

There again, however, my utter adoration of shopping malls and all that lie within them gave Westfield a lot to live up to. I was lucky enough to have been weaned on the Beverly Centre in LA and La Cantera in San Antonio. I knew my malls from my precincts. I need not have worried though, for as I stood on Westfield's marble floor, bathed in sunlight and looking in disbelief at the vast retail spaces which were still being created just weeks before the launch date, I knew that London was about to be given something rather special.



We, in Britain, have it pretty tough. We're a tiny island, with terrible weather and, at the moment, a pretty scary economic climate. In London all this is compounded by hellish rush-hour conditions, a bullish employment market and soaring prices. And, when it comes to our precious down-time, over-subscription to cultural events make most spur-of-the-moment excursions pretty much hopeless. For me, and no doubt a good percentage of the 500,000 visitors Westfield received in its' first weekend trading, the prospect of a modern, accessible, weather-proof destination complete with all our favorite shops and restaurants is very enticing.



The broadsheets may well proclaim that 'shopping is dead', Polly Toynbee may say that it was 'conceived in a bygone era' and the red-tops may highlight the resulting traffic nightmares, but when all's said and done Westfield is now an integral, and more civilized, part of the London experience and will be for years to come.

For me Halloween is just the one day in the year when local hoodies are legitimately allowed to scare the cr*p out of me. For all those who prefer to hide behind the sofa, here's this...

www.blazingcameras.com

Hail Mary! Click this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7699339.stm

Inside Westfield London

I'm live from Westfield London - towards the end of what's shaping up to be a 16 hour day. I was here as they put the finished spritz of Gleam on the windows and have just gone to collect the London Paper, The London Lite and The Evening Standard to find we had made all three front pages!!! The crowds have been immense and the sheer number of laden shoppers made everyone wonder ' credit crunch? what credit crunch?'. Hurrah!!! We made it!

More in-depth analysis forthcoming (as soon as I've had a hot shower, some hot food, and one long night's sleep!)!

Not seen this before - not even sure what name they go by. Curved, outdoor plasma screens on the underground. Drew quite a crowd at Bank.

Ok, I am now OFFCIALLY super-cool. For tonight I finally made the pilgrimage across to East London and to Shoreditch House. Those who are regular readers of this blog will know my position on Shoreditch-ites and I went to SH hoping to loathe it. But I am forced to admit that it is gorgeous - every aspect done with incredibly good taste and attention to detail. And don't even get me started on the roof-top pool. Not to mention that my companion and I enjoyed a perfectly hearty supper for no more than £15 each.

The only downer came as we waited to take the lift back downstairs, only to find a group of my old school pals with a similar agenda. Groucho Marx famously said that he could never join a club that would have him as a member. I rather fear that I might be just be a Shoreditch-ite myself after all! Oops.

The Perfect Saturday

Had a shifty down the lovely Marylebone High Street yesterday. MHS is wonderful not only because of it's fabulous mix of boutiques but also because it is one of the last centrally located havens mostly undiscovered by tourists. Well, apart from the acceptable kind of tourist like Jake Gyllenhaal whom I saw meandering there recently.

Marylebone is also a joy year round - whether you have a lazy al fresco brunch at Le Pain followed by a stroll round their Saturday street market in high summer, or scamper between bars of delicious dark chocolate at Rococo, cashmere heaven at Brora, and a lingering mosey round Divertimenti in the depths of winter. From shopping mecca The Conran Shop at the top, to clothes boutique KJ's Laundry at the bottom, MHS is all things to all the right sort of people.

I lusted after...

A selection of Rococo Mini Bee Bars in 8 unbelievable flavours.



And this divine Globe Trotter vanity case from the Conran Shop.

Will Ferrell as Bush, Tina Fey as Palin. It takes a team to make a dream.

Oh my god!!! Anthropologie is about to sign on a place in Regent Street! I am all over this. All over it like a rash! Yes!

Check it out by clicking HERE!

Whole (lotta) Foods

Given that all work and no play makes Camilla a dull blogger, I am forced to post vicariously. For, whilest I was slumped post-prandially on the sofa, my 'What's on in London' guru and Housemate Extrordinaire, enjoyed 'Thristy Thursday' at Whole Foods in Kensington. I attended the pre-launch preview back when it opened in 2007 - which, with the whole food court laid open for free, escalated into a full-blown binge fest. So I can only imagine what delights my Housie enjoyed for a mere £5 entrance fee and, as they say in the spiel, 'a self-guided tour of the best food in the store'. Sounds like marketing speak for 'dig in!'.

I hate to put a downer on everything, but I'm going to be keeping an eye on Whole Foods to see how it fares during this economic wobble, for I believe it will prove once and for all whether Green is an investment buy or a passing trend.

I fear the next few days herald a considerable drop in blog post rate and quality. With working days so long they are putting us up in a hotel, I can only dream of a holiday right now. Pater recently found photos from our two week jaunt to Florida several years ago. What I'd give to return to that little suburban enclave with days out to Wal-Mart!


Photograph by Blazing Cameras.

As I write this I am tucked up under a 40 tog duvet, wearing M&S slipper socks and clutching a hot water bottle (don't worry, I'm still glamourous - the hottie has a cashmere cover). It is now cold enough outside to begin my third November in a row contemplating forking out for my first ever pair of Uggs. But... is anyone else sick to death of this look...?

Westfield London. I shop, therefore I am.

In 10 days Westfield London, Europe's new biggest shopping mall, opens its doors. On launch day the usual circus of events, celebrities and media will herald the opening of 265 retailers and 50 restaurants all under one stunning glass roof. And with a dedicated concierge service, a mix of both high-end luxury and highstreet staples, and a McBan on the usual dire food offer, Westfield looks set to knock the socks off its rivals Bluewater and Brent Cross.



But there is a huge pink elephant standing in the middle of the central atrium, and Banksy has stenciled 'RECESSION' on its rump. Can a credit crunched London handle a shopping mall of this ilk right now? Westfield has been a building site for the past 12 years, so they weren't to know of the economic situation come opening day, but this month has been the tipping point for a downturn that is making everyone hold on to their pennies.

Retail analysts are right - during hard times, people need cheering up and transporting to a fantasy world. And where better to do that at Westfield, where many of the retailers have made flagships of their stores, and where a combination of shops, restaurants and, in 2009, cinemas and spas, will create a full day out? In a few months, this opportunity for escapism will bring thousands to the centre. But this month, of all months, I fear that escapism is barely an option as we look reality straight in the face.

I'd be nervous if I was opening the doors to the public at Westfield next week, but I'm sure by Christmas this new wonder mall is really going to be giving Oxford Street - just minutes away on the Central Line - a real run for its money.

Geek chic on the Northern Line

Well, I've been a few days off radar due to certain Hen-related activities. Fortunately, we managed to avoid the usual L-plates and blow-up penises that have become somewhat stereotypical of today's Hen parties and achieve quite a classy array of festivities over several days.

Best of all, my fellow bridesmaids and I (yes, you heard right. A bridesmaid) managed to find some totally non-horrific bridesmaid dresses. In fact, some might say they are rather fantastic. Thank god for Oasis.

I'm going for classically demure in black.


While, another is in disco heaven in pink.


Not a meringue in sight!

I love Sarah Silverman. I love that she can say things like 'I don't care if you think I'm racist. As long as you think I'm thin' and get away with it. I love this Vote Obama video she made.



I love that she is playing the Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday. And I love the interview she gave in the Guardian last weekend.

Oh, and I love that the poster in the video is from www.theposterlist.com

Wow, just how many shout outs did I get into that post! Gotta get me some sponsors! Go pro.

As the Beckhams have recently discovered, Ebay can be a pretty scary place. I've lost many a friend to ebay. I've even nearly lost myself, and my pay packet, to it a number of times. The scope means your every whim is catered to - hell, Pater once sold a vase and made a girlfriend out of the buyer! It appeals both to the gambler in us with the auctioning system and the thrill seeker with the 'buy it now' function. And it has a community feel that brings like minded people together to exchange their wares.

And yet, despite a recent overhaul, I can't help but feel its usability is somewhat lacking. E-customers are a fickle bunch; on our local highstreet we still have to walk past the sellers we've shunned. On the web we can slip away without a backwards look. A competitor with the interface of a Amazon or Facebook, would make a MySpace out of Ebay in a matter of weeks.



In the meantime, however, I'm doing all I can to ignore the Abercrombie & Fitch buy it nows.

For news on the Beckhams, click here.

The Last Hurrah

If the economic forecasters are to be believed we are on a slippery to slope to a major recession. This means that 'It' bags and bling will give way to a major focus on inconspicuous consumption. And, so, like a WWII madam giving her best girls to the soon-departing soldiers, I offer up the Camilla's Store Top 5 Last Hurrah Buys. 5 trinkets which, in a matter of weeks, will be seen as morally irresponsible, reprehensibly decadent and downright vulgar. Make the most of it people because I fear that no matter what Grazia says, there just isn't such a thing as credit crunch chic.

1) Expensive nail polish. It chips within seconds, costs £16 a pop and goes gloopy almost immediately and yet.... so pretty!



2) Waitrose. Shockingly over-priced but, as Nigella no doubt mutters to herself, where else can one buy crystallised voilet petals and 14 types of organic butter?? For staunch anti-credit-crunchers, I suggest you drive there in your 4x4 and refuse to re-use. Plastic rules!



3) Luxury gym membership. If we're going to be poor, we may as well look buff doing it. My favourite gyms are the ones that offer a £300 joining fee on a 5 year membership that has no get out clause. Yes.



4) Proper Tea. I once convinced a Texan that it was against the law not the drink tea at 4pm in the UK. High tea is our birthright. They may freeze all our assets but we will always have cucumber sandwiches goddamit.



5) Louboutins. A fleck of crimson as you step out the taxi offers the most flagrant display of wealth. But be careful, as these are almost passable as an investment buy, so be sure to buy in this season's style and then make an anecdote of how you accidently left one of them at Whisky Mist! Such larks.



Happy Shopping!

So freakin' brilliant. (Takes a sec to load video, but worth the wait!)



God Bless Saturday Night Live.

Pink Boots. Hyde Park Corner

Another satisfied customer leaves the new Space NK on Tottenham Court Road.

Photographer, fellow blogger and sometime classmate of yours truly, Marcos JQ, busted a very cosmopolitan move and attended the opening of Apple Mac, Geneva.





See more from this series and others at http://marcosjq.blogspot.com.

She's the voice behind Zero 7 and has now gone solo with her album 'Some People Have Real Problems', which is AMAZING. All the soul we loved in Zero 7, but with a sense of fun and oodles of power we never knew existed.

Buy it now. Don't question me. £7.99 on itunes. Do it.

Cinch it!

I've heard that during recent times of war, the fashion scene on the homefront has embraced army-prints and combat trousers (see little cited pop/history moment: girl-band All Saints' Marharishi trousers during the Balkans). Well, now it's the credit crunch and dippy women everywhere are taking the advice to 'tighten our belts' a little to literally. Kicked off by cult series Mad Men, popularized by our lady in LA, Posh Spice's body-con look, and now rampant on the catwalks of Paris fashion week, feminine curves are IN, IN, IN.

It's a shallow way of looking an impending economic doom, but on the bright-side a belt's cheaper than a whole new dress, and we'll be starving enough to get into those size 8s! Woop woop.

Loving this!



available from www.knockknock.biz

When I was 16, my best friend lived in her own house at the bottom of her parent's garden. She had fish in the bathtub and, in the spare room, a truly awe-inspiring collection of over one hundred My Little Ponies. Saw her again this weekend, the ponies may be long gone but I still think she might like these prints from Garudio Studiage.

Back in the early Summer of this year, when Sex and the City mayhem was in full swing, I posted something along the lines of M&S being a little late off the mark to announce they were doing a collaboration with Patricia Field for AW08. Typical M&S - always last to the party.

Anyway, this coming week sees the new collection hitting the shelves and, if the editorial in today's Guardian magazine is anything to go by, it is typically underwhelming. As similar piece on Jane Shephardson for Whistles literally had us all dashing down off to the highstreet but this... not so much. You can't shove a bit of leopard lining on a trench coat and call it Sex and the City. I'm thinking more Fumble in the Suburbs.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/04/fashion.marksspencer

Went to see Now or Later at the Royal Court this evening. Fab play and very apt what with Election fever rising. I only think that the director missed a trick when it came to creating dramatic tension between the passive, laid-back son unwilling to compromise and the Presidential entourage who come in and out desperate to make him change his mind. While the dialogue convinced us these characters were being forced to deal with a stubborn teenager whilest on the brink of Presidential election, their relaxed on-stage body-language made us think otherwise.

Being at the Court also reminded me what a great little restaurant they've got going on down there. As Pater would say... 'somewhere nice to meet your friends'.