Nina's Christmas Carol

Snuggle up: An assortment of Ocabini cashmere to keep kids cozy.

Good King Wencelas looked down 

on the feast of Stephen

Where the snow lay round about

deep and crisp and even...

Nina Simone was her stage name: 'Nina', from the Spanish niña or 'little girl', was a nickname a boyfriend had given to her; 'Simone' inspired by the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie Casque d'or. Nina recorded over 40 albums, her debut with Little Girl Blue.  It showcases her ballad voice, described in turn as mystical, sensuous, haunting, melodic and entrancing.  The title song starts off using 'Good King Wenceslas' as a counter to the stark precision jazz background. The Christmas carol expresses her youthful spirit and the jazz lays a depth of experience. Simone plays tug of war in this song, sad reminiscing finally giving way to hope. Sublime.

Here's a Christmas treat:

Snoopy for Scarlet Shoes

In honour of Easy Living's Cultural Editor, Beatrice Hodgkin, featuring our tie-neck cashmere poncho as top of 'the best Christmas presents for 2010 that'll keep everyone warm, cosy, snug and happy - in style', here's a post about super scarlet.

Sonia Rykiel SS11

Miss Scarlet, resident femme fatale in Cluedo, is young, clever and gorgeous. And she rolls first in the game. Played in the TV-series by Toyah Wilcox, Koo Stark and Jerry Hall in turn, the stepdaughter of Mrs. Peacock has a series of  disastrous affairs, including with Colonel Mustard, great white hunter and colonial imperialist, military man both dignified and dangerous.

In PlayStation's Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, the daring dog takes on World War I ace Manfred Von Richthofen and his scarlet Fokker triplane. The Scarlet Jungle, a weird wilderness on the planet Krypton teeming with moving forests of red and purple flora, is where Superman locates magic medicine to cure the inflicted city of Atlantis, a legendary island which, according to Plato, was the site of a powerful kingdom more than 11,000 years ago before it sank to the bottom of the sea.

In the Superman chronicles, Atlantis is a thriving glass-domed subsea kingdom nestled in the Atlantic Ocean forty fathoms deep, with fabulous streets and glittering towers.  Populated by handsome, muscular men who make even Superman seem ordinary, the undersea realm is ruled by the lovely Queen Paralea.

In winter 1950 Superman thwarted an attempt by power-hungry Hajar, unscrupulous chief advisor to the throne, to overthrow the queen in a bloody coup and set up a tyranny in her undersea realm.  The lovely blonde ruler of Atlantis fell instantly in love with mild-mannered Clark Kent who'd arrived there via bathysphere - accompanied by Lois Lane and oceanographer Professor Hubble - and he only narrowly avoided marriage to the love-struck queen. 

It's winter, so layer up lovely: DKNY turtle neck top and embellished dress, Ocabini cashmere poncho AW10, Ruche flat cap, Alexander McQueen Gilly boot, Bottega Veneta clutch, Wolford tights. 

Snoopy for Scarlet Shoes

Charles Schultz, Snoopy and the Red Baron, 1966 and Andy Warhol Any One for Shoes? circa 1956 

Stella Loves

It's official, Stella ♥ Ocabini!
'We love the light-as-air, yet very cosy scarves in an assortment of delicious colours.'

Juke Box Love Song
by Langston Hughes

I could take the Harlem night

and wrap around you,

Take the neon lights and make a crown,

Take the Lennox Avenue busses,

Taxis, subways,

And for your love song tone their rumble down.

Take Harlem's heartbeat,

Make a drumbeat,

Put it on a record, let it whirl,

And while we listen to it play,

Dance with you till day -

Dance with you my sweet brown Harlem girl.

Turquoise Treasure

For those after a quick fashion fix, look no further than top colour turquoise. The it colour for 2010 conveniently survives into Spring/Summer 2011 giving any purchase solid staying power.

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Party time turquoise:  Helena Bonham Carter at the Moet British Independent Film Awards earlier this month. Gucci's gorgeous SS11 ruffle dress.

Perambulate in style: Catwalk Kenzo vs Sidewalk Ocabini. Wrap up warm in Ocabini's cashmere poncho. For an instant fix try our hand woven chiffon cashmere scarf. Accessorise with CA4LA degrede fur hat, YSL flower earrings, Amet & Ladoue ruched scarf, Kara Ross snake braided chain bracelet, Shelpers hand made inlay cowgirl boots, DSquared trousers.

Loren Beven, Kerala 3, 2002
Acrylic on canvas  1.47 x 1.17m

 Opaque and blue-to-green, turquoise is the birthstone of the month of December. Of ancient appeal and among the first gems to be mined; a gold serpent bracelet set with turquoise was found in a pharaoh's tomb. Nowadays, good turquoise is hard to find. Many historic mining sites have been depleted, few still worked. Small-scale and in remote locations, most are worked by hand with little or no mechanization. Ocabini's cashmere is made much the same way.

 Brought to Europe through Turkey from the mines in Persia in the 17th century, its name derives from the French turques. Aztecs knew it as chalchihuitl. Serpent imagery occurs throughout Mesoamerican religious iconography; the double headed serpent turquoise mosaic in the British Museum is thought to have been worn on ceremonial occasions as an ornament, a sweeping statement necklace.
 
 Snakes have a habit of shedding their skins, a kind of reinvention that led the ancients to see it as a power of renewal and transformation. Many move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy, cementing their symbolic role as intermediaries between the layers of the cosmos: sky, earth and underworld.

 Hermes, Greek god and guide to the Underworld, is a popular patron busy minding sailors, shepherds and cowherds, orators and wit, literature and poets. His symbols include the tortoise, rooster and caduceus, a short staff entwined by two serpents.

Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies

 

Stella McCartney SS11

There's no getting away from tangerines, oranges and pomelos. The fruits are in season and the shades are predicted to last into spring/summer. After a long cold climate we're in need of some: tangerines are symbolic of good luck and oranges of wealth, their symbolism courtesy of Chinese pun, the words having the same sound. 

Chinese New Year tradition demands decorating with red lanterns and donning red clothes to scare evil spirits and bad fortune; orange will garner the good. New clothes from head to toe symbolize new beginnings.  

The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds line 'tangerine trees and marmalade skies' inspired 60s electronic band Tangerine Dream. Band leader Edgar Froese gigged in Berlin's Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a short-lived but highly influential experimental venue where music was mixed with literature, painting and early forms of multimedia. Only the most outlandish ideas attracted any attention. Froese summed up: "In the absurd often lies what is artistically possible". 

In late 19th century Turkey, Bishop Nicholas, learning of a poor man with three daughters, tossed through the chimney three bags of gold for their dowries. They landed in stockings hung out to dry in front of the fireplace, where they turned into balls of gold, now symbolized by oranges. Father Christmas still brings a clementine for the toe of the stocking of a good girl.

Stocking Fillers 

Ocabini cashmere scarf, Harajuku Lovers necklace, Hermes wallet, Lindor dark truffles, Mango orange glass candle,
Avalya acrylic rose ring, Clarins sunscreen.

Under The Tree 

Hive Modern puppy, Peter Pilotto dress, Ocabini cashmere poncho, Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange,
Kitchen Aid mixer, Converse hi tops, Kodak camera.