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There’s no doubt about it. London winters are dismal. The temperatures drop to numbers that can be counted on a few fingers. The days are a brief span of gloomy grey light and night falls halfway through the afternoon. Yet, (at least for those who haven’t suffered through too many of them) winter is one of the city’s brightest and most cheerful seasons.
Christmas lights, New Bond Street, London
In late November or early December, borough by borough and with great celebration, the Christmas lights come on. So, for winter’s most dismal weeks, when the daylight disappears at 3.30pm, the streets light up with flashing neon.
Liberty's Christmas window
Shop windows are full of cheery fireside scenes, rich and colourful Christmas fare or warm, bright winter clothes.
Christmas Village, Southbank
Christmas villages spring up; huddles of brightly lit miniature chalets selling hot chocolate, mulled wine, mince pies and sweets, woolly hats and gloves and a thousand and one sparkling, glittering little knick-knacks.
Skaters at Somerset House
The ice rinks open. Alongside tent-bars unfold. The skaters come out – the experts and the amateurs, the after-schoolers and the after-workers. It's great sport. Outside, tottering on perilous blades with a pack of whirling maniacs, or inside teetering on a bar stool, with a cup of mulled wine, it's fun and it’s funny.
On November 27, 2000, Nick Knight launched his fashion website Showstudio.com. Harnessing photography, film, performance and art to the infinite possibilities of the internet, while creating hitherto unheard of opportunities for dialogue and participation from its audience, Showstudio is a window to a whole new fashion world. Showstudio Fashion Revolution, brings the best of Nick Knight’s website out of cyberspace and into the amazing exhibition space of Somerset House.
An exhibit at Showstudio Fashion Revolution
The exhibition starts with a step through the looking glass; the magical mirror room shows all those who pass through it as infinite images. Then follows a visual, tactile and aural extravaganza where visitors can step into the fashion scene, see and hear how the great masters create, add their thoughts and live out their own designer dreams.
They can post their reactions on a digital sculpture of Naomi Campbell and see them projected across her colossal surface while a microphone picks up and plays back their spoken reactions. They can see the latest catwalk clips or dress model Liberty Ross in a live interactive photo shoot. They can step inside a live studio space while world famous fashion photographers work. Daniel Brown and Nick Ryan’s "The Sound of Clothes; Synaethesia" allows them to experience the music of a jacket by dragging a mouse across a photograph! "Casting" invites every visitor to the exhibition to participate in a virtual casting session by recording their own particular look.
What’s more there are 16 fabulous fashion films showing "clothing as it behaves on the body" by masters like Nick Knight, Ruth Hogben, Gareth Pugh and by the legendary Kate Moss. Then there are 9 computer screens showing more.
This is much more than an exhibition, it's an experience and an adventure.
Yes and it even includes clothes!
On a visit to London there are certain tourist imperatives. A night at the theater is one of them.
The Lion King at the Lyceum
As a story, the Lion King is one of the all-time greats. It has all the elements of a truly satisfying plot – a bright beginning, an unjust reversal, exile, vindication and happily ever after. It has unforgettable characters – the wise old Mufasa, the reckless young Simba, the sadder and wiser older Simba, the feisty Nala, the evil Scar and his retinue of sly hyenas, the flapping loudmouth Zazu and the wisecracking comics Timon and Pumbaa. It has a spectacular African jungle setting. Then, there are the unforgettable Elton John/Tim Rice music and lyrics.
Before I saw Peter Schneider and Thomas Schumacher’s stage version of the Lion King, at the Lyceum, I couldn't quite clear my mind of dominating Disney images of cuddly lion cubs, rocky bluffs and wild stampedes through deep, dusty canyons. I couldn't quite imagine how African sunrises, hordes of buffalo and gamboling jungle creatures would translate convincingly to the stage.
However, the lLion King is carried off and brilliantly, on stage by ingenious sets, props, costumes, masks and puppets and by a cast of wonderful actors, singers and dancers.
The opening scene is a parade of colour, sound and movement that is almost overwhelming. From the back of the theatre comes a train of giant elephants worked from within by actors. There are giraffes, formed from stilt walkers. Hyenas are half actor-half puppet. The lions are robed in rich, African cloth in kingly reds and gold. Their leonine character is portrayed through masks and head-dresses. A huge feathered head and beak represents Zazu. Dancers dance out fleet footed gazelles, others in coolie hats whirl a background of birds, butterflies and insects across the stage on poles. Wildebeasts are formed from bicycles. Stampedes play out as shadows on a dramatic jungle backdrop. The music, live, is amazing.
The great story works, without all the technical wizardry of film, just with that subtle magic of suggestion and imagination that is the theatre. The proof? - the group of primary school kids across the aisle, hardened and critical veterans of TV and DVD. They were on the edge of their seats, spellbound, open-mouthed and shiny-eyed from beginning to end.
There's nothing more charming than an English village. Small and quaint with classic landmarks like the manor, the church and vicarage, the green, the pub, handful of small shops, the little cottages, the hedgerows, the lanes and of course, the local characters, villages are both a remnant of times gone by and a testament to an enduring way of life. They dot the countryside and encircle the cities. Happily for the millions who commute every day, you don’t have to travel far from London to enjoy the peace and tranquility of village life.
Harpenden Village
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Marseille is a city shaped by the Mediterranean. It sits on the edge of the south of France, in a landscape where stunted trees and scrub cling tenaciously to the rocky windswept hillsides. Its old buildings are fashioned from the solid pink-tinged stone of much of the south of France. Its modern buildings are shiny glass and steel, reflecting the sea and the sky, recalling the shape of waves and the colours of water. Its people are Mediterranean - Africans, North Africans and French coloured, moulded and tempered by the sea. The sea informs its culture - art, fashion and cuisine.
Le vieux port
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There is an ancient Maori proverb which says “If you bow down, let it be to a lofty mountain” Most Kiwis would grudgingly concede that the French team, with their famous “flair”, is a kind of Rugby lofty mountain. On the other hand most French people would happily concede that the All Blacks are “le meilleur équipe du monde” or the best team in the world. So, when these Rugby Titans clash, there’s always the expectation of a great spectacle with a thrillingly unpredictable outcome. As the French philosophically say, “Que le meilleur gagne” Let the best win!
The warm up at Marseille
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The time before and after a Rugby match are as important a part of the event as the game itself. Anticipation and closure are, after all, a crucial part of any contest. But often too, that time before and after, really makes the day.
The gymnast on the balloon at Twickenham
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Going back to Cardiff for the All Blacks/ Wales test last month was like a rendezvous with an old ghost.
Flares and fanfare at Cardiff Arms Park
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“There are days when history is made. Today, in the history of Italian Rugby, is one of them”. La Gazetta dello Sport, Milan, Saturday 14 November, 2009.
The Haka at San Siro
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It’s a relatively short distance from Avenida Paolista down to Ibirapuera Park, but it’s a long journey, both in terms of the country it covers, and in terms of the land that lies at the end of it.
Ibirapuera, Sao Paolo's Central Park
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Comment by Patricia
on My darling Stella is gone
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