My High Street Crush - COS

Christmas is just around the corner and with it, the real reason we love the holidays and the whole hullabaloo: the January sales. Starting right after Christmas we are even given a bank holiday to dedicate for shopping – how considerate!

The looming sales mean that I try to abstain from shopping around this time of the year. And it is REALLY hard, especially as my high street crush COS is just around the corner. COS is owned by H & M, but for obvious reasons they don't go around shouting about it. The clothes are good quality materials, they look and feel design but come with a high street price tag. I reckon the classic COS clothes (with a nice little scandi twist) even kind of justify as a sensible buy. And guys: it's worth checking the suits too. 

So far COS only operates in a handful of European countries so if you don’t have a store in your country, don’t forget to include it in your itinerary on next holiday. And if you live in London, go check it out. But remember, you have been warned: it can cause an addiction. 

Give me a C! Give me an O! Give me a S!
Give me a perfect dress for winter!

There for You (When the Rain Starts to Pour)

You know sometimes you just get the feeling that you have the most awesome friends in the world? Well I do. My friends do awesome things. They write books, change politics, help others, create art and fashion. They are great journalists, unbeatable entertainers and superb PR wizards. Many people will find them annoying because they question things and demand a change. And I’m really proud of them.

I recently interviewed my friend David for a new Finnish paper called NHL. The article is about tackling homophobia in schools by educating kids about LGBT history: its heroes and heroines, the people who have made the British culture what it is today but have either had their identity written out of the history books because their sexuality wasn’t acceptable, or who have been written out all together.

Besides being a teacher, David is also the founder of A Day in Hand campaign that aims to inspire same sex couples to hold hands in public. The campaign is inclusive: anyone, straight or gay, can support the campaign by holding hands with  someone of their same gender and uploading the picture on A Day in Hand website. It’s so simple. To promote love and equality through the innocent act of holding hands.

But it takes a lot of work to get these great things to happen. To organise campaigns and events, lobby politicians, donate your time, create videos, blogs and articles and collect signatures. It takes passion. And I’m so proud to say I know many people with passion. As they are the people that will change the world.   

Read more about tackling homophobia through education from the November issue of Normihomolehti (NHL), out this weekend.

Support A Day in Hand campaign and upload your hand holding photo on the campaign website. Nominate A Day in Hand in the 2011 Pink Paper Awards.   

http://www.adayinhand.com/

Not Enough TV

Recently I have been feeling somewhat lost in the television universe. That is kind of strange as I work in television, watch it hours on end in the office and follow the industry news with great enthusiasm. But somehow I seemed to have missed several programmes I really rather like. I’m watching more and more box sets at home. You know, what I want when I want to. Kind of like when you still had a VCR  and you would programme it to record the programmes you liked. We haven’t come that far really.

But I was not happy with my box sets. I felt restless. I had missed the third season of Skins. And then I found Seesaw. Seesaw is an online on demand TV service that offers catchup programming from Channel 4 and Five. But more importantly, it has also got a nice big catalogue of (mostly) free archive programming from both channels and BBC. It’s like a treasure box! The original Queer as Folk is there as are Skins, Misfits, Footballers' Wives, Bleak House, Peep Show and Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

Try it and you’ll soon find you have lost a day or two. Me, I found peace. And I no longer miss my VCR.   

Queer as Folk was the coolest thing in television in 1999.
Btw, how weird is it to watch Aidan Gillen in The Wire? Weird!  

Princess for a Day - Or Maybe More

So finally the fairytale is coming true for the commoner Kate Middleton and she is getting her prince and half of the kingdom! I somehow missed the news yesterday morning and was more than baffled when a friend texted me and offered to fly to the UK for wedding. Was I getting married? And would I forget if I was, I wondered?

It was nice to see how all the terrestrial TV channels could finally air their Kate & William love story specials. It was especially interesting to see how they got around the fact that the shows were obviously recorded months ago when they had no idea of when or how would Wills finally pop the question.

It was also heartwarming to read and hear all the comments on how this royal wedding will bring the whole nation cheer and happiness in this time of recession. Indeed, if you lose your job and there’s no more benefits to claim, it does fills you with joy to see two privileged, super rich youngsters to marry, probably on your tax money...

Don’t get me wrong, I’m wishing the happy couple all the best. And I’m planning to buy a lot of wedding kitsch. Be warned, it will be a wedding overload in the press this Spring. It didn't take long from elle.uk to try and get us all into the wedding mood. Somehow, they did managed to forget the most gorgeous bride of the all, and she is a queen too!

Madonna: the cool bride 

  

I want my Lanvin!

H&M is treating us with another one of their designer collaborations. With an impressive history of guest designers such as Matthew Williamson, Jimmy Choo and Sonia Rykiel, the Swedish fashion giant really knows how it’s done. And is there anything better to bring us just before the Christmas party (and present!) season than Lanvin dresses, tees, accessories and even some men’s wear?  

Designed by Lanvin's artistic director Alber Elbaz, and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver the line is called Lanvin <3 H&M (that’s Lanvin loves H&M to you non-facebookers). The collection will be released on 23 November, the prices start from less than a tenner (ok, that’s for lipstick, but still) and I looooove it.

Check out the collection on Vogue website, as usual H&M’s own site is a  mess... And below are my favourites. 

Christ in a Coke Bottle!

Last Sunday night I was chilling out with my lovely boyfriend, reading a Sunday paper or doing something else so obviously cultural (like watching Dallas) when we were rudely disrupted by a knock on the door.

Now, I wasn’t expecting anyone and if that’s the case I simply do not open the door. Firstly because I don’t like unexpected visitors. Secondly because I live in Bermondsey. My boyfriend on the other hand is a country boy at heart and went on to open the door.

“Hello. I’m here to talk to you about Jesus”, the man on the door said (I told you so, never EVER open the door, I was thinking).

“We are both atheists”, my boyfriend replied.

“Oh. I’m not here to convert you or anything”, the man on the door continued, “but could I leave you some reading?”

“Sure, goodbye”, was the answer and the door was closed again.

So we got the November edition of the Awake! with the theme of the month appropriately being Is atheism on the March? And what do we learn?

A new group of atheists has arisen in society. Called the new atheists, they are not content to keep their views to themselves. Rather, they are on a crusade “actively, angrily, passionately trying to persuade the religious to their point of view".

Err, how did I come by this publication again? Surely not from a Jehova’s Witness actively and passionately trying to persuade the others to his point of view?

Awake! is full of articles about the bible, spirit and religion, and suddenly – a story about Natural Gas as an Energy for Home. What? Have the Christians finally found science? Are they trying to fool us into believing that the rest of the articles are based on science as well? What’s going on? Do they know that we are watching Dallas and J.R is just about to buy a refinery?

I found no answers. But the eternal wisdom never to open your door to a stranger lives on. Amen.

Do they know we're watching Dallas? 

Here's Looking At You, Kid

Not long ago I holidayed in Finland. I was staying with a friend with no TV so was having to entertain myself by other means of media. In her bookshelf I came across My Story, the memoirs of the Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman. 

Written and published in 1980 with cooperation of Alan Burgess, the book was delightful reading. Bergman arrived to Hollywood late 1930s. Even at that time the Hollywood starlets were cosmetically enhanced (Rita Hayworth’s hairline was famously lifted to better her looks) but the film mogul David Selznik decided to try something different with Bergman. She was sold to the press and audience as she was: with thick eye brows, bad teeth, too tall, too fat and with her real name – “film star au naturel”.

Bergman's own words are entertaining reading. She seems genuine and lovely, although perhaps prone to fall in love easily and ready to sacrifice a lot for romance. She was practically barred from the States after divorcing her first husband and leaving her daughter behind to be with Roberto Rosselini, her second husband. 

She writes about the pressures to be thin, her weight struggle and love of ice cream (not perhaps totally unrelated issues). When down, she wrote to her friend that she was "constantly smoking, drinking more than ever and had gained four and a half kilos".

How refreshing! Today’s movie stars are so dull and uninteresting with their macrobiotic cucumber soup diets and 3 hour a day workouts. No wonder she was favoured by Hitchcock and loved by the public. Salut for the real screen legends! 

Ingrid with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

With Cary Grant in Hitchcock's Notorious

With her second husband Roberto Rosselini and their three kids: Roberto, Isabella and Ingrid

Growing old gracefully in Ingmar Berman's Autumn Sonata, her last feature.

Trendsetting Force of Alexa

I’m usually a very reluctant trend follower. When enough people rave about a great new bar, film or band, I’m far more likely to be turned off by that than to follow the tip. I think shockingly many people like to be part of the herd and allow media to tell them what they should think is good and / or cool. I should know better. I used to be a journalist. Many of my friends are journalists. And as much as I love them, they are not super human nor aesthetic geniuses.

But as hard as I’ve tried, I can’t help but liking “the it girl of the moment” Alexa Chung. I’m not sure she’s the super friendly, down to earth, laid-back, modest girl-next-door who “doesn't make much effort with her appearance and doesn't have a beauty routine” that the glossies (and her agents) like us to think she is. But she DOES have a great style. And it IS her own. Obviously it is easier to dress well when you have got a LOT of money but the examples like Cheryl Cole have shown us that money doesn’t buy you style.  

Check out Alexa’s Today I’m Wearing blog on the Vogue website and her style gallery on the Elle.uk.

It's all about cardigans, shorts, skirts and socks with Alexa.