Tag Archives: silk

Hot on the Highstreet Week 205 – Bangkok

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Chatuchak – This weekend only market is North of uptown Bangkok. It is the largest market in Thailand covering over 27 acres with over 15,000 stalls. You can find everything here, Section 6 is particularly good for vintage finds, whilst other areas focus on accessories, jewellery, phone covers and gifts. I recommend wandering through and browsing the colourful array of goods with a freshly squeezed orange juice in hand. When you are feeling weary, stop for a 30 minute foot massage (150THB – £3).

Open Wednesday and Thursday for plants and flowers 6am-6pm, Friday for wholesale 6am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday whole market 6am-6pm. Best to get the Skytrain to Mo Chit station (exit 1) as traffic can be bad.

Propaganda – Now located in two venues (The Emporium in Sukhumvit, and fourth floor of the Siam Discovery Center) this design led boutique sells a range of intriguing items, most memorable perhaps are the witty plastic pieces, like the molar shaped stools.

MBK Center – This futuristic shiny building is home to many familiar brands both authentic and fake. If you are looking for a good quality imitation this is the place to spend your cash. 2000 stores and services spread over eight floors, it is heaven for shopaholics, and just across the walkway from Siam Discovery and Paragon shopping centres.

Almeta – Most dash to Jim Thompson House for their silk tailoring in Bangkok, however Almeta offers the highest quality luxury handmade silk and has an impressive Silk a la Carte service. Customers can choose from over 1000 iridescent silk colours, yarn types and weights. Almeta are also the creators of Lazy Silk, the only machine-washable Thai silk. If you want something tailor made try to leave time for a couple of fittings.

Find the shop on Sukhumvit 23 and walkable from Asok Skytrain station.

It’s Happened To Be A Closet – A mad and eclectic retro bohemian clothing store, that also serves as a tea room and nail salon. You could spend hours rummaging through the pretty floor-to-ceiling piles.

For more Bangkok shopping ideas, look here.

Hot on the Highstreet Week 118

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It was the ‘Pardon my French’ t-shirt that first caught my eye. With only a few days to go until my next Paris press trip, and a mere week until my annual Provence family holiday everything and anything remotely French was catching my eye. Stuck in Covent Garden with a few minutes to spare, I gravitated naturally towards the bubble gum bright Kate Spade shop, where I temporarily subdue my NY cravings.

Noticing the delicate gold Eiffel Tower earrings, it soon clicked that the whole shop seemed to be possessed by a Parisian spirit. Garance Dore is an illustrator, photographer, writer, blogger and Paris darling – frustrated with the rigidity of magazine work, Garance started her blog in 2006 to share her inspiration and express herself freely and spontaneously. She hasn’t looked back since and the website continues to grow in popularity.

Kate Spade spotted her talent and has collaborated with her on a gorgeous Paris inspired collection. Many of the subtle girly pieces are printed with her quaint illustrations, while others quote familiar French slogans like ‘joie de vivre’ and more comically, ‘Pardon my French’. This capsule collaboration combines the essence of Paris and Garance’s enthusiasm with Spade’s inimitable sense of style and humorous character.

I wished I could take away the whole collection but prices are not cheap.  A beautiful silk shirt will set you back £200, though the t-shirts are priced at a more manageable £45.

A fabulous New York brand with a pinch of Parisian prettiness = a match made in heaven.

Visit the Kate Spade website here to see the whole collection.

Hot on the Highstreet Week 117

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I have wanted to write about Charlotte Cory for a while now… this quirky artist has a gallery in Greenwich and is constantly popping up across London… currently her work can be seen at the Globe and Sir John Soane Museum.

Charlotte has recently designed some scarves that suit my Hot on the Highstreet feature perfectly. These delicate fine printed silk accessories are high quality and very on trend. The design of these tantalizing printed silks is taken from the endpapers of Charlotte Cory’s recently published monograph, You Animal, You! which explores her enchanting world of reworked 19th Century imagery in which the animal kingdom is clearly in charge.  The design features a cleverly worked collage of the elaborate printed backs of Victorian photographs with their attractive, very ornate typography, medallions, coats of arms and mottos which reveal the high-flown seriousness and aspirations of the photographers working in this new art.

You can appreciate the gloriously nostalgic Victorian compositions – or have a good read of all the little extracts that illustrate the history of early photography when pictures required five minute exposures and entailed a magical process that was new and exciting.

I love silk scarves and adore these Charlotte Cory designs, they are so wearable but also very special and unique. The large scarves are £250 and the small scarves are £150. The handkerchiefs are £30 for large and £25 for small. The perfect gift for an artistic man or stylish girl.

Visit Charlotte Cory’s website here.

http://www.charlottecory.com/