School run chic?

Really? Isn't this a celeb-mum reaction to the paparazzi stalking them 24/7? Does the average mom have time for this? And does she need one more pressure in her busy morning? Guardian's Jess Cartner-Morley weighs in:

There are two problems with the notion of working-mum chic. For one, it feeds into a blinkered deification of mothers as heroines that is skewing our culture. Our obsession with motherhood threatens to obscure the fact that communities need sisters, wives, daughters and friends. These roles are important. Second, the American Vogue/Goop version is as unrealistic for most of us as the perma-smiling 50s housewife or the 80s hard-body gym bunny.

You know how I feel about GP, but her lifestyle is hardly achievable.

Shuesday: Guess

Whose shoes?

Sometimes

NY Mag just does my work for me.

What Kate Middleton Should Wear - NY Mag

The Shame Game

"I've been a bad bad girl ..."

I know, I KNOW. Say it with me now; "My name is FG and I am a bad blogger. I got a new life in a new country with a new job and I stopped blogging. My last serious post was 2 June, 2010." (And now you say, "Hi, FG."

It's not that there haven't been things to tell you about. There was the job. Fashion trends have been observed. There were trips to New York and Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. Various prominent women were embarrassed (or not) by their husbands. Elizabeth Taylor's demise didn't even bring the FG to the page. And there was shopping, of course. And I hear there was a wedding ...?

Give me another chance?

The sun also rises ...

"...and hasteth to (her) place where (s)he arose."

The FG knows that she left you alone too long, and she confesses that 'twas the news of the imminent retirement of Carine Roitfeld's retirement from the helm of French Vogue that brought her back. Also, the shaming she received at the hands of WendyB, who put her on a dearly departed list. That'll teach her to take a few months off!

The reality is that a new place and a new job and a whole new life caught up with your FG for a while there, but I suspect that, baby, the b*@%h is back. And now that she's off work for the holidays, she's heading to Bliss London for the day, followed by a little non-Amazon holiday shopping.

Ex-oh, ex-oh.

Fit for a McQueen

Isn't she lovely? And what a great dress.

At Cannes via NY Mag.

What the fuss is all about

I know you think the excitement at this time of year is about a little dude born in a manger somewhere in the Middle East 2000+ years ago, but you're wrong - it's actually all about WendyB, whose birthday is today. Happy Birthday Wendy!

I'm going to celebrate by going shopping at Wendy's jewelry site for her, choosing the gifts I'd buy for her if I had all the money in the world. And if you're still shopping for the holidays, some of her items are 15% off, like the Lady Jane necklace.

Lady Jane was always one of my favourite figures in British history, and if you haven't seen the movie with Cary Elwes and Helena Bonham-Carter (before she got all crazy), it's a must. Anyway, Wendy looks great in red, and this is a beautiful piece.


Then again, as an independent woman, Wendy might prefer the Virginia Woolf Whistle necklace. Although Virginia also met a tragic end, at least it was one of her own choosing, right? Plus it features all that is most cool about Wendy's designs - moving parts, ironic double meanings, and beautiful craftswomanship. And it's one of a kind. What a conversation piece! Run, don't walk.

Of course, if you use your hands when you talk as much as I do, you'll also need a ring. Wendy usually wears 5-6 at a time, and that doesn't count the Swear Rings! The Queen Min ring has always been one of my favourites - beautiful and subtle at the same time. And isn't purple the new black?

For something with more obvious bells and whistles, I should probably also choose one of the poison rings. Named after famously crafty women in history - Nefertiti, Agrippina, Borgia, Livia and Edburga. They're also a lesson in "be careful whom you marry."

Regardless, I hope Wendy has a fantastic birthday today. And feel free to do all your Boxing Day shopping at her site!

All photos from Wendy Brandes.com

Damn she's good IV: Miss Blunt

... Blunt—who knew of Victoria only from “a paragraph in a history textbook and the movie Mrs. Brown”—was delighted to find that she’d been given the role of a protofeminist. “Victoria was an absolute person, fiery, rebellious, and passionate.”

When I suggest that her Victoria is perhaps easier on the eye than the original, Blunt shrieks. “How dare you!” Then she laughs. “Maybe in her later years. Victoria started to turn to the food. The food and the drink and the opium. She was definitely known for her appetite.”

How is it possible that Miss Blunt is only 26, btw? So unfair ...

NY Mag
VFair via editorialism

Previously, Queen for Life, Perpendicular Girls. (clearly, I'm a fan.)

Smile

Husbands I had and Liked. A blank book, for your notes, if any.


From Daily Candy.

Damn she's good III: Ms. London, if you please

There's been a little more TV in my life of late (it's like cramming before an exam, or a last pint of ice cream before a diet), and among the gems is What Not to Wear. And NY mag has a little Q&A with our Ms. London.

Selections:

Who's your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Auntie Mame. Would KILL for that apartment.

What's the best meal you've eaten in New York?
The tasting menu at Per Se, the devils on horseback at Freemans, monkey bread at Monkey Bar, Paella Magdelena and banana-nut bread pudding at Blue Ribbon Brooklyn.

How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
There is no price too high as long as the cut is great.

What makes someone a New Yorker?
Being able to navigate subway grates in heels.

For me, the deal with the subway grates is to avoid them at all costs. The metal trap doors in the sidewalks too. It has recently occurred to me that I may be complicating sidewalk traffic with the manoeuvring this requires ... but I don't really care. And I can do it if I have to.

NY Mag

Post 1201

Why don't I have the ... whatever you want to call it ... to wear my hair all big like this every day?

Oh, right, because I'm not Grace Coddington ...

Gawker

If you've never been to you ...

There's probably a reason, but Charlene has a warning for you, and it sounds like this ...

"Please lady, please, lady, don't just walk away
Cause I have this need to tell you why I'm all alone today (...)
I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got
I've been undressed by kings,
And I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see
I've been to paradise, But I've never been to me"

(Spoken) - I kid you not:
"Hey, you know what paradise is? It's a lie. A fantasy we create about people and places as we'd like them to be. But you know what truth is? It's that little baby you're holding,And it's that man you fought with this morning, The same one you're going to make love with tonight. That's truth, that's love."

And back to the song ...

"Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children, That might have made me complete
But I, I took the sweet life, And never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet
I spent my life exploring the subtle whoring, That cost too much to be free"

I mean, really?

I bet her hair wouldn't look that perfectly feathered if she was tending to a husband and a baby of four like a proper "discontented mother and a regimented wife".

In which the Misses Bennet encounter Twitter

Pride and Twitterverse

TheRealJaneAusten:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.

MrsB:
A Mr Bingley--worth 50,000 followers a year--has joined Twitter! He's brought a friend, Mr Darcy--worth 100,000 followers a year! Pls RT

MrsB:
@JaneB @LizzyB @MaryBsaphorisms @KittyB @LydiaB I will have one of you girls married into internet fame yet. Just you wait.

LizzyB:
@MrsB But mother, I think we can pull ourselves up by our dooce-straps just fine.

MrsB:
Blogcasting: How to find husbands for your daughters: http://tinyurl/momblog Now with free giveaway from our Etsy embroidery shop. Pls RT

LizzieB:
@JaneB If I could love a man who would love me enough to take me for a mere 50 followers, I should be well pleased...

LizzieB:
@JaneB ...but such a man wouldn’t be sensible & I could never love a man who was out of his twits. LOL

For more, go to Under the Mad Hat

Self preservation

I take care of myself. Daily sunscreen, gym visits 2-3 times a week, relatively healthy consumption of food and alcohol, and no smoking. Occasional facials and other spa treatments, dips into wacky products that promise far more than they deliver - we've all done it.

But I can't imagine even wanting to look like this at 85:

(...) Ms. Vanderbilt could easily pass for 25 years younger. She still has the high cheeks and the wide, stretchy smile she flashed back in the ’80s, when she was selling jeans on television. She has a Brahminish, boarding-school accent but a down-to-earth steely determination. On days when she doesn’t write she paints or makes collages and Joseph Cornell-like “dream boxes,” some of which have been featured in literary magazines.

“I’m always in love, that’s one of my secrets,” she said recently, sitting in the living room of her apartment on Beekman Place. “I’m determined to be the best I can be for as long as I can, and when I’m not, I have my plans. I walk a lot and watch my diet. That’s the key of it. I’ve always had a lot of energy.”

Love is the answer to looking 25 years younger than you do? 'Cause there's nothing teen age-ish about my smile lines ...

FG of the Month: Carine Roitfeld

Not to be outdone by Anna Wintour's 60 Minutes treatment, her French counterpart, Carine Roitfeld, had London's Guardian over to her office for a chat.

Listening to Carine Roitfeld talk is like having Chanel No 5 eau de parfum dripped, very slowly, into your ear. If it were possible to bottle that accent, it would surely be found to contain the very DNA of sexy-French-womanliness. Her thickly Gallic delivery is cartoonishly seductive, but the kittenishness is spiked by the low, Gauloise huskiness of her timbre. The combination is a heady cocktail of sharp and sweet, like the salted rim of a Margarita.

Wow. The British will really enver get over their fascination with the French, will they?

This, however, is delish. On rumours that she was asked to replace La Wintour:

...I think it's really not me. I'm good at what I do here and I'm not sure if you put me in that world I would be as good. I think it's much easier to talk to 100,000 women than millions of women across America.

And from the actual article:

she walks into her office six floors above the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in fresh-off-the-catwalk python boots, swinging a curtain of chic glossy dark hair, with thoroughbred-skinny legs and expensive-looking white teeth

NY Mag

The Guardian

My little Uma

Amazing.

Guardian UK

Must haves: Post-recession shopping

Yes, you may open the door for me, boy.

Lanvin

Salman the Clown

I know I've been hard on Padma lately, but compared to Pia, she's a home run. What is he thinking?

And really? Boiled egg whites? I'd rather not eat. Although she doesn't really seem to eat either. Hmmm.

NY Mag: Grub Street

Top Chef Fashion Police

Really Padma? You're gorgeous. We adore you, and we know you were in Glitter. But who is styling you on this season of Top Chef? You look awful in all those high waisted, button front jeans. And don't get me started on the high waisted denim skirt. This is Top Chef New York, for crying out loud.

Why can't you dress like this anymore? It's not as though you're actually cooking anything ...

Girls with guns

"Ms. Anwar’s refined angularity leaves her more beautiful at almost 40 than she was at 22. And of course her beauty is half the gag. She could make Julia Roberts look like a cashier, but she performs the ritual abjections of someone who seems to believe she is living inside the body of Shirley Booth. Ms. Anwar gamely carries herself as a goofball who has never passed a mirror and had a look. And she locks right into the real source of Fiona’s masculinity, which has less to do with her Glock fetish, than her refusal to regard her romantic pursuit as a pitiable behavior in need of reform."

It's a good show, check it out.

Lusting After Guns, and the Affections of an Ex-Boyfriend