dior at harrods

It's been a while since I've done anything fashiony (the last being Valentino's exhibition at Somerset House), so Dior's exhibition at Harrods was a timely move for me before I had to head home for the holidays.

I only had time to visit the pop-up exhibition on the 4th floor. Walking through the ridiculously priced children's clothes section to get to the exhibition was definitely daunting, like the £600 price tag on a tiny Dolce & Gabanna dress for a 2-year-old baby girl.

The 'So Dior' exhibition is funnily enough located next to the Disney Cafe - I suppose there isn't space available elsewhere. Nevertheless, once you walk into the space, fronted by an extraordinary, lit-up facade of a quintessentially French building with actual tiled floors, miniature furniture and perfume bottles behind the windows, you know you're in for a treat.

It's not a huge exhibition by all means, but quite a lot is packed into the compact space. I especially enjoyed the video clip with footage of the master couturier himself speaking of his designs and the gorgeous gowns on display. Despite the small collection, the dresses are all stunning, especially that iconic dress from Raf Simons' spring Couture collection, which is an absolute marvel to see in person. The tiny, tiny blooms that make up the fabric of the dress are tear-inducingly beautiful. Definitely linger and press your face up against the glass, it is the stuff dreams are made of.

I'm not the biggest fan, but there is a fair amount of space dedicated to the Lady Dior handbag, from some interesting reconstructions to a giant bag-sized screen which takes you through the making of iconic handbag named after Princess Diana.

All photos are my property.

review: 'so magnifique' spa day, sofitel so spa, london

Wahanda is a revelation of epic magnitude. It is basically spa version of Groupon. In order to chase away those mid-term blues, I bought a coupon for the So Magnifique spa day at Sofitel Hotel St James's So Spa, which is an absolute bargain at £155 for two people.

My boyfriend and I arrived at Sofitel rather out of breath after a mad dash thanks to the outrageous traffic on the Strand at 11am on a Thursday afternoon. Sofitel is one of those swanky five-star hotels just a staircase away from St James's Park. The easiest way of getting there is to take the tube to Piccadilly, walk down Haymarket, and turn right. It's on the corner of Waterloo Place and Pall Mall.

After filling out a form asking anything from allergies to how you like your music, we were presently shown the dressing rooms and facilities, which were thankfully empty. The ladies' room is very well-equipped with elaborate showers, fluffy towels and most importantly, a hair-dryer. (According to my boyfriend the men's room was rather cramped though.)

You have an hour to lounge about a private jacuzzi (amazing!) and a steam room, so make sure you're not late like we were. The facilities were top notch, spotlessly clean and very well maintained. The jacuzzi was wonderfully romantic - I've decided that I want a hot tub some point in the future.

Every couple has their own room with a private jaccuzi

The setting and lighting of the room alludes to a Balinese villa with an outdoor pool

The highlight of the day was, however, the 60-minute treatment itself. We signed up for the 'In-Deep Relaxing massage', and good God was it relaxing. We had our massage in a beautiful treatment room, with a glowing bathtub which we unfortunately were not invited to take a dip in. The music, aroma and bed temperature were all configured to our preferences, and the massage was the best I have ever had. Both our masseuses were professional, discrete and just incredibly talented at what they do. I literally had to be peeled off the bed at the end of the hour.

As if the two hours worth of pampering were not enough, the spa day also includes a generous afternoon tea in the beautiful and rather eclectic lobby. The desserts in particular were a delight. I swear we were literally glowing when we left So Spa in a dream-like trance at 3pm. Not a bad place to be on a Thursday afternoon.

All photos are my property.

review: port-a-portea at the berkeley, autumn/winter 2012

Hello! Well it has been an exhausting week of excessive celebrations, including a dinner at Le Gavroche (and meeting the man Michel Roux Jnr himself), parties, champagne and of course, the long-awaited Pret-a-Portea at the Berkeley in London.

The waiting list is about 3 months long I believe - I booked a table online about 4 months ago. For a ridiculously long wait, I suppose the ultimate fashionista high tea experience was marginally worth the £40 per person price tag. The setting is lovely, especially if you're lucky enough to bag one of the plush sofa seats. The Paul Smith dining ware was a nice touch, but I could see bits of paint peeling off.

So, the food. There is definitely enough to go round the pair of us, thanks to free refills! We were asked three times if we wanted more food (we said yes twice), including the beautiful pastries on the middle tier. And the quality? A bit hit and miss. The sandwiches and the savoury snacks on the lower tier were average, and out of the pastries only the macaron really stood out to me. The beautiful green YSL bag felt more like playdough in my mouth and didn't really taste like pistachio as it's meant to be. The mousse cakes and biscuits were nothing to write home about either, and my sister didn't particularly like the mousses on the top tier either.

I know I'm sketching it as a rather negative experience, but to be fair, I went for the novelty of it. If you're looking to have a long girlfriend gossip sesh over a unique, swanky afternoon tea, then go for it. Just don't expect too much of the food.

Plus, we got adorable takeaway boxes, and I got the macaron, so no (overtly vocal) complaints from me.

All photos are my property.

birthday blues, joey style

As I approach the last days of my current age, I am feeling the birthday blues, not unlike Joey...

On the bright is of course a half-week long celebration, the highlight of which will be the swanky Pret-a-Portea with my sister on Sunday after scouring vintage goods at Brick Lane. It's gonna be a good weekend!

My screenshot.

please give me flowers

I know it's been a while yet again, but I've been swamped with job applications and interviews... real life sucks.

So the BoF newsletter led me to the fascinating profile of the man behind the flowery paradise of Raf Simons' first Dior show. Mark Bolle is a florist based in Antwerp and well-known amongst the fashion circles. Looks like the folks over at Dazed are quite smitten with Mr Bolle, who partnered up to create a rather eccentric and pointless short film called 'Fade Into You'. But I do love the photoshoot, which captures the beauty of the flower so much better - it's absolutely stunning.

I can almost smell the flowers... I can't wait to get roses from my boyfriend for my birthday next week!

Source: Dazed Digital