Love | Orange

It's been raining for weeks on end, so I thought I'd bring some virtual sunshine into our lifes…

1) Jean Paul Gaultier perfume. Not that big a fan of the smell, but the flacon is sooo pretty.
2) 2nd hand Hawaii shirt. Old and sun-bleached... instant beach and sun feeling guaranteed.
3) Ole Henriksen serum. Smells of melted gummi bears… I have no idea if it does anything good to my skin, but am still majorly addicted.
4) The Spa lipgloss. With LED-lighted applicator and mirror to make sure you can put on your pukka pout in every situation. Kind of weird and kind of cool.
5) Hermès tea service. A long time ago we bought 4 of these to celebrate an unexpected inflow of money. Only one has survived through the years – so I cherish it all the more.
6) My mum's 70s dress. Used to be maxi length, wide and high-cut, after a few alterations it's now short, swingy and v-necked.

It was surprisingly easy to find orange things I love. A colour for you, or not so much? ♥ ♥ ♥

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People | Top Hat

One of the better moments this week was having tea with Stephen Jones, tasting his cake creations for the Coworth Park Ascot Afternoon Tea*. All cakes came – naturally! – in hat shapes à la 'Jockey's Cap', 'Ladies Floral Hat', 'Top Hat' and 'The Queen's Crown' (blackcurrent mousse, praline crunch cushion, marshmallow... my favourite!), and all were pure deliciousness. I must have asked for 10 refills of the lavender infused Assam tea, and when I finally got my camera out, oops, all cakes but one (the polite leftover no one dares to eat - which meant I had to first photograph and then rescue it from a terrible end in the kitchen bin) were gone.

How was it meeting Stephen Jones? Lovely! He was the perfect charming host, full of entertaining stories, and when he left me with the words 'It was wonderful meeting you, love'** I had to restrain myself from giving him a big happy, thankful hug.

♥ ♥ ♥

*Coworth Park Hotel is the luxury country hotel of the Dorchester Collection offering nice treats like a helicopter shuttle service - topped with 'hair and nails' treatment, Stephen Jones hat loan and champagne - to Royal Ascot… now, how cool is that?!

**Although by now I have learned that the word 'Love' is a fixture in the Northern vocabulary it always reduces my heart to a wobbly mass.

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Life | Sprouts

Times, they are a-changin… The photography website is finally up and running (big sigh and 3 hurrays), and Psynopsis' face is morphing a bit, too: More focus on The Life of Others… (naha, I don't mean the film, but interesting life/style/survival/shopping/hide-out/go-out etc. tips from people who know) combined with daily inspirations and impressions (and the odd fashion shoot, bien sur!). For the 'hi-just-a-short-snippet' posts the comment functions will be disabled because really, I don't want you to feel pressured into contributing to every little whim of my leaky brain. For the bigger posts – aka 'MyFavouritePlace' and 'MyFavouriteThings' and fashion/styling shoots the comment function will be on and all inputs, additions and recommendations are highly welcome. But even in 'no comment' times – It ain't mean we can't talk! As always we can share shorties on twitter, you can nudge me on facebook or shoot over an email. I'm quite excited about what's happening with the blog and really hope you'll like it, too. ♥ ♥ ♥

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Style | Hatted

♥ ♥ ♥

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London | MyFavouritePlace: Daniela | The Albion Café

I really had hoped Daniela would agree to taking part in 'MyFavPlace' because her blog Couture and Crumpets is a great read and always full of London infos. As she's not only studying English literature and running her blog, but also doing internships at The Sunday Times Magazine and 'a major fashion mag' (don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it yet, but I can say when she told me I blurted: 'HOW did you get it?!?'), it wasn't that easy to get a date with her. But when we finally got together we had the best time drinking tea and munching brownies and caramel tarts…
 

dress: urban outfitters, shoes: french sole

addresses & websites: Albion, 2-4 Boundary Street, London, E2 7DD. More information here • Mawi Jewellery

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♥ | Pigments

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Love | Black

It's a bit of a 'favourites' frenzy here. Today it's all about the black stuff…

1) Black pearls and the best scented candles in the world (of the few I tried): Annick Goutal. Bliss.
2) My gran's penny box. Old, battered, and a beautiful memory.
3) When it comes to tights there's only one right colour?
4) Currently testing the new Motoluxe phone. It's slick, easy to understand, self-learning, has a big screen and an amazing camera… Love it!
5) The only times I've been wearing this Rick Owens dress is for outfit posts – it's just SO sheer, but still one of my favourite pieces ever.

Probably don't even have to ask if you like/wear black… or don't you?? ♥ ♥ ♥

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London | MyFavouritePlace: Sherin | Alexandra Palace

I've been brooding... about London. It's an incredibly inspiring, vibrant, beautiful, exciting and BIG* city – and even after nearly 10 years the place still often is a mystery to me.** So I've been thinking... Why not ask others? What they love about their city, where they like to go… (c'mon, hand over the insider tips!). My first interviewee is Sherin – not only because I love her and her blog, but also because I know she's got the stamina to do 6 press days in a row when my limit is 2.*** So the girl knows places. We met up and I asked her to answer some questions...

• My favourite place is… Alexandra Palace, in North London.
• It's special because… I practically grew up there. I used to live in Hong Kong, and used to visit London and my family in the summers. We went to 'Ally Pally' practically every day. It was always such a great atmosphere as there is a fair, ice skating, boating and even deer.
• The best time to come is… During the summer, as there's so much going on.
• Don't miss… The view. You can see all of London on a good day.


Style | Blackforest

The outfit post for the next installment of MyFavouriteThings (colour: obvious) turned out to be quite the balancing act… Back as soon as shoes have dried and I've untangled myself. ♥ ♥ ♥

boots: c/o zalando, cardigan: c/o matalan, dress: rick owens

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Photography | Fish, No Water

Life is full of illusions... Like the idea that ones treasured clothes could be worth anything on ebay (unless it's vintage Chanel, but I'm saving these for when poverty lane is looming), or that there ever might be a British summer (nope, I don't mean an 'English summer', we all know what that is, but actually A SUMMER in Britain), or – my latest brain blur – that you could put a website together in 3 days… "I'll start on Good Friday and it will be done by Easter Monday." Phhhh... haven't looked up from the screen ever since... "What?!? This slide-show only takes xyz to xyz pixels, but I've edited all the pictures to abc pixels!! And WHY won't this bloody font not work???"*. But I did find some old photos on the way… ♥ ♥ ♥

*I'm not even doing the programming stuff, just providing the content, and loads of wishes, naturally.

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London | Randall & Aubin

A Belvedere Bloody Mary Brunch is normally not on top of my to-do list, as alcohol before 11am is one of my stricter no-nos, but as Randall & Aubin is THE 'oyster and champagne bar in the heart of Soho' I really wanted to check it out. So I nibbled on my hamburger and fries while observing that no one else seemed handicapped by self-regulatory, fun-inhibiting restrictions, as the vodka was flowing in rivers and people were truly happy. Lovely Kate and I discussed the hardcore social life of bloggers and shared Australian memories, and we both agreed that even in a non-drunken state Randall & Aubin has a good vibe – kind of Parisian bistro meets New York gastropub. Definitely worth a visit for oysters, hamburgers and/or drinks.

So do tell me, cocktail brunches... yay or nay? ♥ ♥ ♥

Randall & Aubin, 16 Brewer Street, W1F 0SQ, London.
Big Thanks to ThisIsMission for the invitation.

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Love | Grey

In the early blogging days, I remember Jak & Jil having a little series in which people showed things they loved or which inspired them… I loved these posts! As Diana Vreeland says: 'People are interested in people'... and the things that make their lives - or in other words: we're just a darn curious kind. And as my head is spinning with 'favourite' projects these days* I thought why not start a 'My Favourite Things', too?

The first installment is all about grey – bo-ho-ring grey, something between black and white, not even a real colour... Which makes it so perfect for adding texture, and then it comes in all kinds of shades – which in the end makes it pretty exciting, I think. How do you like grey?

1) Found this Max Mara blazer in an Oxfam shop; love to wear it on top of the old, dyed Eric Bompard silk blazer.
2) The sterling silver tea service is from the scrap yard. Made my day! Still need to find a button for the top...
3) Pierre Hardy clutch. Love it. Hardly ever use it because WHERE DO I PUT ALL MY THINGS??!?
4) Grey t-shirts… can you ever have enough?
5) Me & Kashmiere scarf. BEST BUY EVER – wear it and wear it and wear it…
6) CdG2 perfume from Comme des Garcons which I recently won through a phantastic giveaway on Mat’s blog. Smells wonderful and looks great.
7) Wear it all together.
(cashmere sweater: vince, sequin trousers: vero moda, shoes: dolce and gabbana)

*Which is actually just the preamble of another – hopefully informative and entertaining project – called 'MyFavouritePlace'. Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays! ♥ ♥ ♥

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♥ | Get Ready

Sarah says I should have written 'Getting Ready' because that's what Abi is obviously doing here (and, dang, I love her hair!), but I think my foggy brain went: Get Ready… 'to win €30,000 and have your work showcased, and stay at one of the beautiful Dorchester hotels during fashion week!' Which is kind of confusing because for this you need to be a) a ready-to-wear designer or b) an accessories designer and your work needs to c) project 'a sense of individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship'… Then you might have a chance to d-y) be the winner of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize 2012. So IF you are a or b plus c then what are you waiting for?! Registration is open until 31st of May.

z) I think I should have called this post 'Get Ready to Be Totally Confused'… but this should explain it all:

You can find more information about the Dorchester Collection Prize here.

♥ ♥ ♥

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Style | Bonjour à LV

Until someone starts paying me for my services I refuse to rechew press releases (and how boring would that be anyway), but instead insist on making everything in this blog about moi (like embarrassing moments wearing the wrong colours or headaches after drinking myself through the cocktail menu). But even without giving you the official low-down about the 'new A-line elongated silhouette' I can honestly say that seeing the autumn/winter collection of the infamous steamtrain show was pretty exciting. Maybe it was the macaroon induced sugar-rush, but I went from 'I-don’t-care-for-bags' to 'I-want-them-all' and started dreaming about drinking cappuccino avec logo on Parisian squares while wearing jewel stoned brocade costumes and hats with fox and goat hair decorations. Aah, des rêves doux …

Big Thanks to Louis Vuitton for the invitation, and to Michelle for modelling the scarf.

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