My Thoughts. Edited and Published.

Radio 1’s Annie Mac brought her live show to Brixton’s 02 Academy on Saturday, with line up:

Annie Mac, Skeam & Benga feat. Youngman, Fakeblood, Breakage live feat. Jess Mills, Riva Starr, Shy FX feat Donaeo, Rob Da Bank, Danny Byrd, Mz Bratt, Zombie Disco Squad, Savage Skulls, Rachel Barton from 9.30pm - 6am. 

As you can imagine, an AWESOME night out.

(Especially considering me and my two friends stumbled across the event info on the London Time Out website whilst pondering what to do for the evening…A lucky find indeed!)

It was a great venue, great music, great atmosphere, great organisation…in a word. FAULTLESS. (and in London, surprisingly this can often be hard to achieve).

Annie Mac, you beauty!

I was tidying my room today and came across a flyer I picked up a while ago after I went to see a magnificent light installation by Anthony McCall. 

The exhibition took place in a quiet warehouse below Baker Street in London. It was a surreal experience, entering the pitch black hushed space, only being able to see four dominant prisms of light being projected from ceiling to floor.

Each projector created a slowly moving pattern of light and smoke, so the pieces were constantly changing. The atmosphere was eerie, calm and therapeutic as your eyes adjusted to the darkness and became mesmerised by the beauty. 

The way Anthony McCall makes the structures seem so solid and strong is incredible. It is only light and smoke! I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

A few weeks ago I enjoyed a lovely manicure by top nail artist Sophy Robson, at the Chanel counter in Selfridges, London. 

ElleUK were promoting the not to be missed deal: £17.50 for the nail artist to the stars (having worked for YSL and Tom Ford to name names) to paint YOUR nails in the spring/summer 2011 colours, PLUS you would get a protective base coat, top coat, (worth £18 each) and Chanel cosmetics bag for FREE, and the £17.50 was redeemable against ANY Chanel product! Incredible I think you would have to agree. 

The mini manicures were only 15 minutes, but Sophy worked efficiently to get great results. The 3 colours to choose from: Mimosa (bright yellow), Beige Petale (delicate nude), and Morning Rose (sparkly pink).

All conveniently priced at £17.50, making it easy to simply walk away with a brand new polish, basically for free! While I opted for the quiet nude, each friend took one of the others, so we had all three between us! Happy times indeed!

I have to say the Chanel polishes are worth paying that little bit extra (not that any of us had to, but next time I will!). They have a great consistency, leaving a lovely smooth and professional finish. 

Look at these beautifully designed shoes!

Made by Canadian footwear designer Anastasia Radevitch, she creates luxury pieces that delight people like me. Graduating from one of my connected colleges (UAL London college of Fashion), I am especially please to talk about her. The successful designer has worked for the Aldo group (a personal highstreet favourite of mine), Bolongaro Trevor (founders of All Saints, another favourite of mine), as well as worked alongside Alexander McQueen and Nicholas Kirkwood. Her stilettos shown here apparently;

“work on a paradoxical approach that consists in creating familiar looking objects that have however never before existed. She sews together the symbols she draws from the collective unconscious to create the ideal juxtaposition”

(Cyrille Mas Gamoty)

Apologies for the long quote, but I couldn’t improve on this sentence!

These stilettos are reminiscent of Jackson Pollock’s ‘dripping’ method, as it became known. Radevitch’s stilettos have been described as;

“A balanced object: a visual abstraction, yet perfectly stable”

Experimental indeed, Radevitch achieves a highly desirable and fantasy engaging finish. I absolutely love them. It’s definitely worth taking a look at the other designs on her website (though it does take some time to load, but I promise, it’s worth it once i does).

It’s been a busy week, meeting new people and seeing new places. Monday 16th May was predominantly taken hostage by the personality that is Reggie Ansah, fashion photographer turned Editor-in-Chief/Creative Director of, as I have said before, one of the most exclusive magazines in the world, the aptly named, Luxure Magazine. A lucky encounter indeed, albeit somewhat bizarre!

I met Reggie at Luxure offices in the heart of Mayfair, unstandably fretting about my outfit, checking my lipstick, and trying to control any signs of nervousness. 

Originally from Ghana, Reggie was lively, undeniably stylish, and slightly eccentric. Intimidating, yes, but in a good way. We sat down in a surreal setting, an ‘office’ that I think must have been a sitting room at one point. A huge McDonalds ‘M’ hung over the fireplace, while hundreds of photographs of men’s clothing dominated the entirety of the back wall.

I was left alone a few times, while Reggie completed a couple of tasks, normal when working in a high end magazine office. “1 sec, I’ve just got to call Prada, a couple of magazines haven’t been recieved”. Midway through our meeting, the production manager entered…holding a handful of his own hair. Just another day in the office? I guess so. 

Quizzical, energetic, unfocussed, constantly ‘on the go’, fashionable, quirky; all attributes of Reggie’s that have evidently propelled him to the role he now owns. Founder/Editor/Photographer of arguably one of the most prestigious magazines in the market today. 

Reggie Ansah is an incredible character. It was a lovely (and odd) experience. Hopefully one day I will be in the same position as he is in now. 

Hardworking? Yes. Mad? A little. Inspiring? Definitely. 

Luxure website: www.luxuremagazine.com

Reggie Ansah’s website: www.reggieansah.com

The two sites don’t offer much info, but this is notably intentional. Both brands (yes, Reggie is himself a brand) are secretive, intriguing and exclusive. Only available to a select type of people, the magazine and Reggie exude luxury, but very much keep their cards hidden. Perhaps this is the secret of success? I think to get to the top, you need a similar strategy…as well as be a little bit different.