Christmas windows in New Bond Street

And.... while we are still ploughing through the 12 days of Christmas... some photos from New Bond Street as everyone was finishing their Christmas shopping.
Dolce & Gabbana's market stall... Everything always looks so much more attractive when lined up neatly...

 

Just down the street, a rose-studded Christmas pudding.... the flowers squashed together. Somehow reminiscent of the icing sugar ballgown spotted on a cake in a window of a Shepherds Bush baker ....(much earlier this year)

 And finally, to complete a Christmas triptych, a mannequin in the Prada window.  Really like the mix of fabrics and patterns - the silk scarf, the polka dots, the sheer lace skirt. Have a feeling that this is something to do with a sense of impending economic recession - not quite sure why - food for thought.                                                                     

Some things don't travel

 Somehow - I've noticed over the years - some fabrics and patterns don't travel well. Tidying up photos from earlier in the year in my camera again - and come across this photo of a Madrid shop window in blazingly hot June. Fabulous though these shawls are - they don't really travel well. Cannot imagine wearing one in Shepherds Bush... Maybe it's something to do with the light - colours look different in hot climates....And patterns 'fit' the cultural traditions whence they spring, of course.

Looking back at the year

Tidying up the photos on my Blackberry (prior to ditching it when my contract ends shortly...) find pictures of the summer and its patterns (and places)... First - Madrid, in June. A shop window near the Puerta del Sol. It was so hot. Traditional Spain.

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A closer look at the rose border

..And the traditional geometrical abstract patterns of Islamic tradition.

Geometry and roses

A blend of the mathematical and lyrical on a length of fabric in Zain, a shop specialising in (among other things) textiles for the Sudanese community.

Folds of rope

I had been to Venice before (as a student) but that was such a long time ago... This time, am taken by surprise at every turn. The boatmen on the water buses work miracles with rope. This elaborate knot lashed in a matter of seconds to secure the boat.

Tressed hair and fabric folds

On a water bus in Venice - a nun is sitting in front of me next to someone who has carefully clipped her hair into place with two tiny plastic clips of a kind I've never seen before.

The lines of the tressed hair follow the folds of the fabric worn by the nun.

Beaded robes on Gesuati Madonna

Richly beaded robes on the Madonna and Child in the Gesuati (Sta Maria del Rosario) church in Venice, on the Zattere...

Rows of polyanthas

And the gardeners have laid out the polyanthas in rows, making planting so much easier. I would have tipped them out anyhow.

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Patterns of autumn

In Soho Square this morning.... The beds are being replanted, ready for winter flowering....
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