portabello road

Getting Jazzed for the Tonys

Get excited theatre lovers! Today is none other than the Tony Awards!! To celebrate the occasion, I had to don something sufficiently zany, but (if I do say so myself) wholeheartedly FABULOUS. Can’t you just see Gloria Swanson walking down a boardwalk adorned as such, tipping her sunglasses and crooking those ominous eyebrows? Or maybe I could belatedly join Anything Goes? I think the closest aesthetic I could fit to anything currently playing would be the King and I, up for a best revival nomination, but it’s quite a stretch (and I’d need to trade in the trousers for a hoop skirt). Ah well, I will have to content myself to watching. For those of you who don’t know, competing for Best Musical are:

An American in Paris: two (coincidentally very good dancers) fall in love in Paris after WW2- think old Gene Kelly
Fun Home- a woman realizes she’s a lesbian at the same time her father struggles with the fact he is gay- based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel)
Something Rotten- two aspiring playwrights try to outdo Shakespeare in the 1590s by writing the first musical- the makers of Avenue Q and Book of Mormon collaborate on this for nothing short of comic hilarity
The Visit- the richest woman in the world returns to her poverty-stricken hometown. What will happen?- based on a Swiss 1956 play of the same name (but in Swiss)

For Best Original score, switch out An American in Paris and add The Last Ship, or Sting’s (you heard me right) new musical currently on Broadway. The musical focuses on a man who returns to the shipyards of his hometown after his father’s death and tries to woo an old flame…

I am very conflicted as to what to vote for. Fun Home is probably the most controversial, and though it addresses issues not covered before of the Great White Way, to me the modern musical scores are kind of hokey. Ring of keys (the song that will be preformed from it tonight) centers around the word “swagger,” which ends up annoying me so much that I can’t listen to it. Telephone Wire is catchier, but uses what seems to me an obvious metaphor that feels stale when it becomes more of a symbol than an object.

I haven’t heard how they’ve redone an American in Paris or anything from The Visit. Something Rotten is very funny but has frequent language (making it, I think, less applicable to universal audiences, even if it is truer to Shakespeare’s usage). Further, as the title promises, a lot of the jokes are “rotten” as in more base toilet humor, which I find boring after a few times, personally. So! I guess I’ll just have to see who wins.

Real talk: Today’s outfit was shamelessly inspired by the wardrobe of the heroine in my new favorite Murder Mysteries Mini-series (scoot over Angela Landsbury). Meet Miss Phryne Fisher of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. There will be more to come on this topic in future posts.

Thanksgiving for London

I am constantly thankful that I have the opportunity to temporarily live in Zone 1 of London at this season in my life. Even while juggling my internship, law school, and my recently hectic travel schedule, I always try to make time one afternoon a week to discover something I don’t know about this awesome city. Virtually any brand I’ve wondered about is within walking distance, and the exhibitions that I see advertised at home open here. In a bit of shameless self-promotion on the city’s part, I often see the Samuel Johnson quote “when a [wo]man is tired of London, [s]he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” If you excuse my tweaking, I would have to say that Mr. Johnson unequivocally encompassed my emotions on the subject. Therefore, when my trip to Paris was unexpectedly canceled, it was no great loss to spend a languorous Sunday roaming, Mrs. Dalloway-style, around Covent Garden.

As an aside, this is my Cara Delevingne impression.

So morning coffee at Somerset House (where there is now an ice skating rink I need to try), Ben’s Cookies and window shopping at Covent Garden Market, lunch at the Delauney Counter, and general tour-estrial bliss on Waterloo Bridge — altogether a halcyon day.

“Halcyon Days”
by Walt Whitman

Not from successful love alone,
Nor wealth, nor honor’d middle age, nor victories of politics or war;
But as life wanes, and all the turbulent passions calm,
As gorgeous, vapory, silent hues cover the evening sky,
As softness, fulness, rest, suffuse the frame, like freshier, balmier air,
As the days take on a mellower light, and the apple at last hangs
really finish’d and indolent-ripe on the tree,
Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
The brooding and blissful halcyon days!

Shared to Trend Spin and What I Wore

London Calling!! Chelsea boots in Chelsea.

This post marks the first of my new European, though decidedly British, adventures (rather pathetic, I know considering, as of today I’ve been in school an entire month). Nevertheless, worse things happen at sea. And from here on out, I promise not to ruin any more National Gallery side shots. The week I arrived, I was lucky enough to share my “holiday” with my father and sister. We quickly found that we particularly enjoyed the Notting Hill and Kensington area. Of course, whether or not this sentiment revolves around a certain literary figure’s rendering, it is not a very profound one, as the price tags in the area suggest. Daddy found it particularly peaceful walking through the lines of white houses (each accompanied by well-placed trees).

Though everyone seemed to warn us otherwise, I can’t help but love Portabello Road. It’s the source of my tea kettle, opera glasses, meerschaum pipe, crochet parasol, and tweed deerstalker. It was on this road of all places, Daddy discovered the wonder of Tesco (a British value-chain grocery store), and had a minor Baptist revival in the drink aisle when he saw prices listed in pence. All the sudden, his generosity was unbounded: “Girls, you can have anything you want for lunch from this store.”

However, I made us trek onwards to the fabulously eccentric and oh-so-endearing, sinus threat of the century: The Churchill Arms. Covert Thai restaurant extrordinaire. The decor in this place ranges from walls coated with the royal family to bunting and lanyards (and bunting as lanyards) across the ceiling. While I am hardly a Thai food connoisseur, I have always enjoyed theirs and would definitely recommend it if you’re hungry and in the area.

From there, we walked to Kensington Gardens (and subsequently through Green Park and St. James Park, which are connected) in hopes of “walking off our lunch.” While we may not have been successful on that account, we did manage to secure some gorgeous weather (at first). This being Britain, the mere dawning of a new hour brought with it several poignant changes in the moisture level.

The Albert Memorial

The Italian Gardens

The area around South Kensington backs up to another area called “Chelsea,” named such because it is next to the Chelsea Bridge (or so wikipedia says). The Chelsea area encompasses a little bus stop named Sloane Square, and if you walk there, you will find nearly any upscale clothier you may hope to peruse. Chelsea is touched on its other side by Knightsbridge, probably most noted by foreigners for being the home of Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Between Kate living in the area and the Queen shopping there, you can guess it’s pretty nice.

The sidewalks are nice; the stores are nice. The people dress nice (though they are mostly sheathed in black), but there’s an unusually high number of inhabitants that wear flat ankle boots. I couldn’t tell you why this is la mode. Still, accepting that it is, these sort of boots are colloquially known as “Chelsea boots.” Before I found out this sliver of information, I fell in love with the Tommy Hilfiger ones I’m wearing in the picture below. Say hello to my shiny new Christmas gift y’all!

The Boots. The Boy.

Besides the boots, I’m wearing:

Sunglasses: Chloe (you’ve seen before)
Necklace: Native American Gallery here
Shirt/ Dress: American Apparel
Trench: Tommy Hilfiger
“Trousers”: The Row
Satchel: Fossil

It was so fun having my Dad and sister along! It really made for a joyous and entertaining vacation.

The Clothesline

Style for people blowing in the wind

portabello road

Getting Jazzed for the Tonys

Thanksgiving for London

London Calling!! Chelsea boots in Chelsea.