Gas and Gravity

Where did this week go? It's Saturday and I'm just about the read the Style section in the Financial Times, when I realise I've written nothing to you. Last week was a bit of a whirlwind, but as I think back, history slowly unfolds. I did something new that many of you think I do all the time - I went to Shoe Heaven in Harrods. Yes, Yes Francine - but you're always there. Well, that's almost correct but not quite. When I go I'm a bit like a homing pigeon. I only go to the Dior space. This time, as I was with a friend, she took me around the whole thing. Who knew it was so huge!? And full of so many shoes! (Really?!) Some very interesting. Some very generic. Some just plain ugly to me. But so many! What I've just read on the Business of Fashion is what I've always said. Shoes are the best way into fashion. That's why there are so many new shoe brands. Great news for all of us connoisseurs!

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I've made a momentous decision. I'm going no further with the leather trouser thing. Instead I'm looking for denim. Yes, that's right - Francine in Denim. What sort I don't know. Japanese, embroidered, boyfriend, flared - could all be in with a shout. But not skinny or slashed at the knee (or other places). Who knows? Will update you as I go. Saw some Japanese denim in Feathers, opposite Harrods. But they were hovering around the £700 mark. Really?! Didn't try them on, but I still remember them so might just do so as an exercise.

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Talking of exercise, I did my Pilates class the other morning and unfortunately, before the class had even begun, my mat neighbour already had a space problem and was all about the muttering! The class started and as her backside was at the bottom of her mat and my head was at the top of mine... yes, you know what's coming next! In a very quiet studio with only eight students, suddenly the quiet was interrupted... she farted. In a cartoon this is hysterical. In real life with my face in such close proximity, this is not so funny. Not until after the class when I walked out with some friends, we were nearly on the floor laughing so much. This couldn't have happened to a nicer, muttering woman...

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Back from South London by way of Scoobies (the best, and I mean the best, dry cleaners in London). And let me refresh your memory - no more expensive than my local dry cleaners. Take my word for it - if you have good clothes that you want taken care of in the best way possible, then Scoobies is the only way to go.

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Do we gravitate to people who dress like us? This morning I saw a very interesting sight. Two women in different outfits but the same colourways - black and green - and there they stood, echoing each other (obviously friends). I wish I could have photographed them for you. It's like men and women who marry people who look like them. I've seen it so many times. Is it like looking in the mirror? Or imagining what you'd look like as the opposite sex?

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Did someone forget to tell me about the hour going forward? Missed a 9:30 Zumba - shock! horror! Never mind... I'm sure my body won't fall apart due to the loss of one class. So now I'm reading the Sunday Times Style magazine. I'm beginning it see it as a comic. Is that what they call it? Do they think that the readers of the Sunday Times are still teenagers? Or is it for the reader's children? My predilection for wearing my hair wavy may have to go, if it's to be so, so fashionable with this '70s vibe going down. No - what am I saying? Most women still blow dry their hair straight to within an inch of it's life. OK then, I'm still safe.

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Between now and then. The hours of one o'clock in the afternoon to six o'clock in the evening - I've lost a button from my trousers, a heeltip has come off my shoe and I've pulled the seam on a chiffon blouse. So now I've nothing to wear! No really, the shoes (not my only pair) are my favourite at the moment. Same with the trousers. The blouse - not such a problem. But a problem nonetheless. So, here I sit in my dressing room. Why have I nothing to wear?...

Happy Shopping!

F  XX

PS: Wishing all my friends a very Happy and Peaceful Passover and Easter. Normal service will be resumed on 13 April.

Me as Dinner Chair at the Langdon Gala.