favorite pictures: South Bank

I love the South Bank. I love Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare's Globe. Its walls are made with cashmere, woof. When I got back from two weeks on the continent and was all alone in London the first place I went was the Globe, just to sit. It has a relatively good ice cream van, a lovely shop, a public(ish) restroom with Dyson airblades and some of my best memories of London are getting off at St. Paul's, walking across the Harry Potter (Millenium) Bridge and sitting around the South Bank. Said area also includes Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, the Clink, the Golden Hind, and the Tate Modern. Seriously, one of my favorite places in the world!

view of St. Paul's from the Globe. 

The Bodygaurd musical

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17906423
http://www.thebodyguardmusical.com/

Uh...the West End is producing The Bodygaurd as a musical with Tony Award winning Heather Healey (Nala from the original Lion King and Aida) as Rachel Marron. Lloyd Owen plays Frank Farmer who is best known for his role on Monarch of the Glen, but I know him as dreamy WWI soldier from The Cinder Path. I only recognized him bc of his awesome chin scar.

Owen as Frank Farmer and Headley as Rachel Marron

Now The Bodygaurd is on my short list of movies I have to watch if they're on TV (also Gladiator, Titanic, and Forest Gump), and I'll be thrilled if the musical does well, but I'm not so sure. It seems like a really intimate yet epic film to put on stage, but heck go for it! I'm dying for it to be great and want to see it! Previews start in early November, it opens in December. Christmas present?

Favorite pictures: Westminster Abbey at night

I've posted the Louvre at night, so here's Westminster Abbey, on the west side (facing Parliament). I went the night of the 2010 elections when Cameron won. Big Ben (or rather the Clock Tower (not St. Stephen's Tower) of the Palace of Westminster, or rather the Houses of Parliament) was used as the back drop for projected election results throughout the night and this was the reason for my jaunt to that area at night (not actually having been to Westminster before or since this trip). I snapped some rather terrible shots of the Clock Tower, and the London Eye, but I really only came up with one good photo of Westminster that I like, and here it is.

favorite pictures: Kew Gardens

One of my favorite non-theatre activities while in London was visiting Kew Gardens. I loved the Temperate House  and the grounds in general. My roommates and I jokingly picked out our "engagement trees" a la the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma. It was just a magical and wonderful place! Of course my favorite photos I took are the ones I sepia'd.

what a wonderful tree for engagement!

favorite picture: Liberty ties

Michael Levine's in L.A. carries Liberty of London cotton prints for $35/yard that are beautiful. Seeing them yesterday made me remember fondly my trip to Liberty while in London. Martha and I dedicated a whole day to Liberty of London, Savile Row and SOHO. It was one of my favorite and most fondly remembered days.

Here are Liberty of London ties. Great? yes.

V&A: instruments in the sky!

I lived in London for 6 weeks between my junior and senior year of college (spring 2010) and studied Shakespeare and theatre there. We had our classes at the Hyde Park chapel which was very close to the Victoria and Albert Museum. To see just how close, here's a link to the Google map of the V&A's general area. See the London Family History Centre on the NW corner of the block the V&A is on? That was my school. Jealous yet? Hopefully needless to say I spent a lot of time at the V&A. The first day of course I spent in the permanent fashion exhibit, then I started going through the entire museum. All told I think it took me about 4 or 5 afternoons to go through every exhibit in the museum. Along the way I looked for any and all costumes and clothing resources and took pictures of all that I was allowed to. Sadly, some/most of my early pictures are rather awful because I didn't know if I could use a flash or not and was too shy to ask so lots of blurry photos of clothes, BUT I did get the hang of it and have ended up with a rather nice collection of more or less detail and wide shots of what I found interesting in the V&A. Honestly, if I lived in London I'd probably go to the V&A more often than the Temple...and I'd need a V&A book budget bc their bookstore is phenomenal.

Anydoctorwho...I went through my V&A photo folder last night and got all teary and nestalgic and decided that I'd share my photos with you! It's hard to pick the first photos to share, and I hope you're not disappointed, but I figured I'd start with two that aren't of costumes. The first is of the outside western facade of the building about a half a block from the main entrance.

Of course dumb me saw the scars from WWII before I saw the sign and thought that something was terribly wrong with whoever was in charge of building maintenance, then I was incredibly moved when I saw this inscription. As an American it's easy to forget that European cities were terrorized during WWII and that the blitz affected London deeply, my beautiful beautiful London.

Next is something I stumbled upon through my meandering and fell in love with. I wasn't smart enough to find and take a picture of the description that goes along with this, but it's pretty self explanatory. These instruments were crushed and hung by basically fishing line above this study room in a perfect plane. It just cracks me up and blows me away. Such a pleasant surprise and one more thing to take my breath away in my favorite museum!

SO much more to come in future entries!

Remind me why I'm not in London?

The BBC posted this article about the Young Vic's current production of Hamlet starring Michael Sheen. Remember how if I was in London I could just GO to these plays on a whim? That there are SO many theatres with amazing actors and plays in London? I've never seen Hamlet live, and while I think I might agree with some of the criques about this production's concept going a bit overboard, I'd get to see Michael Sheen (Wesley SNIPES!) play Hamlet. I was already a year late to see David Tennant as Hamlet, and a year early to see him and Catherine Tate as Benedict and Beatrice. The solution is for me to just move there so I never miss any of these. Also, there is currently the largest collection of da Vinci's at the National Gallery through February, wah wah.

The Tempest @ PTC

Oh my gosh, I'm so tired from dyeing all day then going to The Tempest at Pioneer Theatre Co, but I figure I'd better review the show tonight to get it out there.

The Tempest is not my favorite. I think Prospero's an a-hole (pardon my French), Ferdinand's first words to Miranda asking her if she's a virgin are ridiculous and there are just too many  stupid groups of people to keep track of that just goes on and on. I saw it in London at the Unicorn and didn't particularly care for it, but looking back I liked it a lot better than this production, well, I liked the acting in London and the design up at PTC. Maybe someday I'll appreciate it if I ever see a production that really gets to me, but this didn't.

The concept was steam punk, which you should look up bc I'm too tired to elaborate. The set design and costumes were spectacular, and although I don't have any brighter ideas I wish Miranda would be in something other than a nightgown tied between her legs. I could go on about how awesome these things were, but again, tired.

The acting was slow and uninspired. It was intelligible, but nothing special. The pacing at the beginning was cumbersome, which is partially due to the fact that Prospero talks for the first 10 minutes to explicate, and partially because the narration was just dull. The tempest at the beginning which has the potential to be the big heralding bang for The Tempest was lethargic. I have other more particular bones to pick, but eh, that'd take effort. I can say that Ferdinand and Miranda's first meeting was delightful and Stefano and Tericulo were worth watching, for their first scene. Am I being too harsh because I was on my feet for 8 hours dyeing over a hot vat all day? Maybe, but there's an issue when the audience starts fantasizing about Wendy's asiago chicken clubs when they just had dinner at Hires Big-H.

On the upside, I got to catch up with my friend Val from USF who took me to the show. Even though I wasn't thrilled by it I love going to theatre! Thanks Val!! Also, her mom told me about ghosts in Ogden, of which there are apparently many.

London Assurance

Ok, so I guess this'll be more of a cultural blog b/c I like to write play reviews that aren't strictly about the costumes. That being said...

London Assurance at the National! Starring Fiona Shaw and Simon Russell Beale this play is a mid 19th century comedy with a fop, a country girl, a masculine woman and all sorts of shenanigans. Simon Russell Beale plays Sir Harcourt Courtly, an aging dandy that has arranged to marry the niece of his friend to secure her fortune and his. Grace is agreed to this because she doesn't believe in love, but falls in love with Charles Courtly, Sir Courtly's son, while in disguise (Charles, not Grace). Meanwhile, Sir Harcourt falls for Lady Gay Spanker (Fiona Shaw) who assists Charles in distracting his father from Grace. Hilarity ensues.


The actors were completely committed to their characters and didn't judge them, leading to some of the funniest moments I've ever witnessed on stage. Beale's portrayal of Sir Harcourt was absolutely sublime. His body language (as you can see above) spoke volumes that added to the comedy written into the piece. His costumes were fantastic, consisting of an incredible morning outfit, his first "country" suit (seen above), a second suit in plum, a white tie satin tuxedo with pumps and his traveling attire (including a purple cape).


Fiona Shaw played Lady Gay, an always happy and boistrous woman who's married her husband, the aged Dolly Spanker, so that she can always be in control. When first introduced she's wearing her hunting ensemble (above) which is fantastically drawn to show a well shod leg. She laughed and smoked and drank and was just absolutely too great. I'd tried to describe her attitude to you, but I can't. She was just too great.


Lady Gay accepts Sir Harcourt's suit in this fantastic dress! The darker stripes are iridescent and from far away the fabric looks like it's been painted on with big brushes. So fantastic! In stiff taffeta this amazing dress moved like a dream.

The cast included (from left) Richard Briers (Sir Spanker), Fiona Shaw, Simon Russell Beale, Mark Addy (Max), Paul Ready (Charles Courtly) and Michelle Terry (Grace).

The costumes were just fantastic on everybody and like I said, the comedic acting was so honest, sincere and nonjudgmental of the characters that it was riotous! One of my favorite pieces ever.

Harrods

Harrods has ruined me forever. My friend Martha and I went the other day and maybe saw 1/3 of Harrods. She has a fashion degree and works in the shop w/ me and I of course am an avid lover and follower of fashion. Seeing De La Renta and Dior and Marc Jacobs and so many others up close and personal made me weep internally. First of all the craftsmanship is amazing. One De La Renta Dress had diagonal seams all the way around the middle with the invisible zipper in on the diagonal. It was amazing. Also, furs and angora were everywhere and I just had to touch them all. You can tell that Marc Jacobs is a clean designer, but you don't really grasp the crispness and extreme perfection of his tailoring and designs until you're up close and personal with them.
Saw this person:
http://www.oscardelarenta.com/?folderId=/collections/runway/spring2010#lookId=51&


MENSWEAR:::oh. my. goodness. We only scratched the service of the menswear, and actually didn't go into the bigger names, but what we saw made us weep. We're talking a leather jacket that was so buttery and well tailored I would marry ANY MAN that wore it (providing he went out and found it and bought it himself). Suits with hand pick-stitching everywhere, real buttonholes on the cuffs, and amazing material. There were cardigans that were too adorable for words and plain old dress shirts with so much detail I couldn't help but gasp.

I was a little underwhelmed by the shoes actually. I can appreciate paying exorbitant amounts for well made clothes out of good materials, and the same goes for shoes, but I feel like with shoes there's no cap for how much you can charge for a jelly flat.

London: attractive men, cute shoes and jeggings

Men here are much more attractive than back home. They have the same attractiveness in the face department, but they are so much better groomed! A dapper hair cut and European clothes do the body good. Although...

Best looking man I've seen in my life: Jogging past Martha and I on the way to the tube. Tall, dark, ridiculously handsome, short curly hair and just in jogging stuff. He smiled at us because we both broke out in huge smiles as soon as we saw him. Ah....

Also, the general trend for women of the younger set is to be less groomed rather than more. Haircuts are layers and frayed and shaggy. Fashion leans heavily towards shapeless on top and fitted on bottom. Very short skirts are popular with tights. Leggings are popular with tunics. Some women are very well put together. Raincoats and jackets abound. As mentioned earlier, jeggings are worn as pants (above).


Women here wear adorable lace up leather flats like men's shoes (shown above) and I want some real bad and will probably budget to get some b/c I've never seen anything like them in the states.