Wedding Fever

Paula Yates marries Bob Geldof in 1986. Spot the rockers in the wedding party!

My sister, Banana meet-Cute is staying with me from Melbourne and is quite the royalist, so we are preparing for the royal wedding on Friday night. When I say prepare, I mean fully stocked with bubbly (I'm thinking Prosecco) and have requested wedding themed cup-cakes, as she is quite the baker. I'm not really into the royal family, was never interested in Diana (although did watch her wedding in 1982 - only because I was promised Charles & Di chocolates) - but lately I've been caught up in the "Who will Kate wear?" hoopla. My personal fave would be Alexander McQueen, but I'm thinking McQueen may be too edgy. Stella? I have a feeling Kate will accentuate those shoulders and go strapless, bias cut or drop waist in a fairly tailored design - mind you Bruce Oldfield has said that you can't go sleeveless in Westminster Abbey? "'It will have sleeves, it has to have sleeves. You can't walk down Westminster Abbey in a strapless dress. It just wouldn't happen. It has to suit the grandeur of that aisle, it's enormous." Oh well - time will tell! More importantly - who will KATE MOSS be wearing next month? Now that Galliano is vetoed....In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite wedding dresses of all time.

Unmarried Helena Bonham Carter & Tim Burton in a fantasy wedding shot,

from Vivienne Westwood's book 'Vivienne Westwood Opus'



Dita Von Teese marries Marilyn Manson Goth-style in electric violet Vivienne Westwood, 2005 (Milliner Stephen Jones is holding her train).



A classic. Bianca Jagger marries Mick Jagger in a YSL suit. The jacket (and lack of a shirt caused quite the stir back in 1971



Gwen Stefani in Avant Garde, pink dip-dyed Galliano. This dress blew me away, it is so Gwen, and I love the structure and the colour.

Rock star wedding! The inimitable Paula Yates marries Bob Geldof at 26 in a blo0d-red satin dress, a gift from Jasper Conran. I met her when I was working at Harrods - she seemed very shy, very sweet.

Carolyn Besette Kennedy marries JFK Jnr in Narcisco Rodriguez in 1996- a classic in bias cut cool. This was one of my favourites and captured the zeitgeist of 90's minimalism and fitted tailoring.

Carrie Bradshaw in Westwood for the long awaited wedding to Big. If only the makeup and hair was softer though. the red lips & scraped back hair look too harsh.



Another rock star wedding. I love Pearl Lowe. Here she is marrying Danny Goffey with gorgeous Daisy Lowe. look at that cake! Dark chocolate strewn with rose petals, mmm.



Pammy and Tommy get hitched in Cancun in 1995 within days of meeting, after Tommy stalked Pam and followed her to Cancun where she was working on a shoot. I'm sorry but I love that she got hitched in a white bikini - Rock & roll!

Britpop Cool

Reading the latest RUSSH magazine at Christmas time, I stumbled across this article which totally took me back to be obsession with Justine Frischmann, how much I LOVE her style, and all things Britpop - especially those cool Britpop band-girls.



I was living in London at the tail end of the Britpop explosion in 1997 - 1999, and loved every minute of it. (I was Team Blur). My cohorts & I submerged ourselves in the Indie scene (- and a lot of Stella). We hung out in Camden, hoping to spot Alex James or Jarvis Cocker, met the young unknown boys from Travis at the Dog Star in Brixton & subsequently saw them at some University gig (Fran Healy has the most beautiful voice), saw Blur at the Brixton Academy (where Damon performed with a broken ankle), Muffin Spencer from Brassy at Barfly & Idlewild at a Uni gig, saw the Manic Street Preachers at Wembley Arena and - on a very unfortunate night in - subsequently missed meeting Graham Coxon, when my flatmates bumped into him out on the town.





The Blur gig @ the iconic Brixton Academy (December 11, 1997) was one of my faves. Damon was on form (despite said broke ankle) and Alex was the epitome of a sexy, swaggering rock God, fag in mouth throughout the duration of the show. Check out their new doco, No Distance left to Run.



I loooooved was Elastica! I them back in the day, and thought that Justine Frischmann was the coolest chick ever. She showed how sexy you could be in just jeans, docs and a hoodie. As much as I love getting blinged up with make-up and 6 inch heels, I also love and live in jeans and Tees. With her tomboyish mod-style look, floppy black fringe, black leathers and slightly plumby accent, Justine was the epitome of Brit Indie cool. Her look aped her boyfriends Brett Anderson and Damon Albarn - cropped asymmetrical haircuts with the long fringe in face, stovepipe jeans, skinny tees, leather jackets - edgy, pale, British, cool. Very Hedi Slimane...





OK maybe not ALL of her boyfriends - "I did briefly see Guy Ritchie at college (he was a useless little sod - a layabout - I didn't feel he'd ever be anything)" The Independent, 14 June 2000





Justine helped found another fave band, Suede, with her then boyfriend Brett Anderson. Justine left Suede when their relationship crumbled - and she took up with indie darling Damon from Blur. The split with Damon was the inspiration for the beautiful Blur album 13, written about their breakup. 'Tender', still being one of my favourite love songs - listen to it here.



A rare, non-tomboyish shot:





Justine pics from Last FM



I must say, 'Animal Nitrate' but Suede is still one of my favorite songs from that era. How cool was Brett, sauntering about in those skinny pants and tight black shirts. Russell Brand must have been taking notes. Funny how you get lyrics mixed up, I always thought he was singing "Only twenty ooooone, oooone". Is actually "Oh it turns you oooon, oooooon".



But nothing beat Elastica's guttural, pulsating hit, 'Connection' - a riff ripped off from the Wire's 'Three Girl Rumba" - but awesome none the less!







Love this pic of Donna from Elastica too. Rock star cool.





I read Pearl Lowe's fab book 'All That Glitters', a fascinating peek into her Britpoppin' world of bands, musos, models, gigs, drigs, partying & generally running amok in London in the early 90's, with a few famous names thrown in to boot. She was in a band called Powder, looking very cute here, like a little Goth China Girl.







Pearl married Danny Goffey from Supergrass (natch), beat her drug habit and now has a successful fashion range of gorgeous Victorian-style lace dresses, lace curtains and soft furnishings. Check out her beautiful website here.



Pearl & Danny's lush country manors are frequently showcased in the likes of Hello! magazine. They are happily ensconced in country-manor life, and pregnant with number FIVE! An addition to Daisy 21, Alfie, 13, Frankie, 10 and four-year-old Betty. I love how Pearl has gone from absolute crazy party girl hanging out with musos on the path to oblivion, to stylish Mum living in the country, with a successful career and marriage. see - you CAN have it all! What a life.



"Her office, in one of the three ground-floor receptions, is impeccably neat. Elsewhere, however, things are more rock’n’roll. In a ground-floor bathroom there are snapshots of Kate Moss, lolling over her then boyfriend Jefferson Hack, a youthful Rhys Ifans, the snake-hipped Primal Scream singer Bobby Gillespie and Supergrass on stage at Glastonbury"

From Pearl Lowe: From wild child to earth mother, The Sunday Times, October 11, 2009



"Despite the move to the country, and Lowe cleaning up, they haven't quite dropped the hi-octane lifestyle: during one of Lowe's clean periods in 2002, Carl Barat and Pete Doherty came to stay with them when they were still living in north London. Surely not the ideal post-rehab guests? "Aww, it was fun looking after them," she says maternally."

The Guardian, July 9, 2007



I adore Pearl's house - 'Biba modern' style. These pics are from New Woman magazine:







Pearl's stunning daughter Daisy (to Gavin Rossdale from Bush - now known as Mr Gwen Stefani) is doing remarkably well with modeling, due to sultry, doe-eyed good looks and curvaceous figure.







Pearl Lowe pics from thh Daily Mail & Hullo UK



Daisy pics from W Magazine March 2001

Agent Provocateur RTW 2008

Steven Klein for Vogue Italia 2007

Wheels and Dollbaby campaign , 2008