Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,

save it for a rainy day…….

Be x

Ma & Pa Murray were in town for the weekend, so I took the opportunity to visit the two (non free) exhibitions at The Imperial War Museum; Terrible Trenches and Ministry of Food - WONDERFUL!! Loads of Tea Drinking VE Day Celebrations, a wonderful blend of Sexism & Girl Power like only the 1940s could, tips to keep food fresher and bunting…what more could you want?! Sit back, relax and enjoy some good old fashioned English traditions - and a bit of harmless propaganda…

Every nation in creation has its favourite drink

France is famous for its wine, it’s beer in Germany

Turkey has its coffee and they serve it blacker than ink

Russians go for vodka and England loves its tea

Oh, the factories may be roaring

With a boom-a-lacka, zoom-a-lacka, wee

But there isn’t any roar when the clock strikes four

Everything stops for tea

Oh, a lawyer in the courtroom

In the middle of an alimony plea

Has to stop and help ‘em pour when the clock strikes four

Everything stops for tea

It’s a very good English custom

Though the weather be cold or hot

When you need a little pick-up, you’ll find a little tea cup

Will always hit the spot

You remember Cleopatra

Had a date to meet Mark Anthony at three

When he came an hour late she said “You’ll have to wait”

For everything stops for tea

Oh, they may be playing football

And the crowd is yelling “Kill the referee!”

But no matter what the score, when the clock strikes four

Everything stops for tea

Oh, the golfer may be golfing

And is just about to make a hole-in-three

But it always gets them sore when the clock yells “four!”

Everything stops for tea

It’s a very good English custom

And a stimulant for the brain

When you feel a little weary, a cup’ll make you cheery

And it’s cheaper than champagne

Now I know just why Franz Schubert

Didn’t finish his unfinished symphony

He might have written more but the clock struck four

And everything stops for tea

x

Stacy Brafield does exactly what is says on the title! She has a passion for creating art from the mundane household objects. Through the exploration of Embroidery she transforms everyday objects, altering the original purpose in order to maximise aesthetics.

She explores the importance of objects, especially cassette tape, being disguarded and sent to landmines! What could be better…ethical art!!!

…She is of course off to a rather fancy evening, a dinner party picnic in Hyde Park…The way she has explained it sounds a bit Mary Poppins to us, but we think no hat, definitely no hat…

Send your designs for Blanche to [email protected]

Take a min to look at the Holbeck Green Corridor Project.

The project takes place in a deprived area of Leeds called, well, Holbeck. The idea is to, ultimately, try and connect the poor area up more effectively with the affluent city centre which is very close by, by creating a nice walking route into the centre. Unfortunately Holbeck is surrounded by motorways and the path north into the city is pretty piss poor. Derelict sites, crime, prostitution, dumping (ever wondered what happened to old couches??) and general poor environment.

But the council have started an environmental project to improve the surroundings - relandscaping to improve site lines, trees for improved townscape, installing new lighting and best of all, some very pretty urban meadows. The photo above was taken on Bridge Road (if you know the area). Below we have one of next to the Meynell Heights tower block and the disused viaduct.

Pretty cool hey? And pretty pretty too. All these photos were taken by Hannah Sibai.

Here is Tim Green’s collaboration with photographer Matt Shelley. Tim has turned Matt’s series of the Inca trail on its head by re working them and taking inspiration from 70s film poster illustrations - its not like anything we’ve ever seen before, kinda Barbarella, and we LOVE it!

Sun is shining in the sky, there ain’t a cloud in site… x

ELO - Mr. Blue Sky by BalladOf

Oooo we persuaded Stylist Debbie Lerner to start a new project for you fashion hungry Balladeers…Debbie Does Dress Up will give you a sneak peak inside the wonderful perks of the Fashion Assistant…

Photo Credits: Alexander McQueen Shoes, New Look socks and silk vintage nightie - We can dream!

x

You know us, suckers for our four legged friends, so when we popped into Elite for cheese, wine and chats, just look who was waiting for us!! Oh hello puppy!!

x

Everyone enter Dora’s World, Experimental and Environmentally friendly fashion designer! We delve into her world with a Q&A Ballad Styleee!

Ballad Of…Tell us a little bit about yourself

Dora…Well, I am a realistic dreamer and a a reliable adventuress:) my more official BIO is on my site.

B…We read you are big on ethical fashion (so are we) what made you become so passionate about being kind to the world when designing your clothing?

D…I am devoted to ethical attitude in fashion. I do not believe in fast and valueless fashion, so we do not make mass production and do not exploit labor, we use only carefully selected materials and hardwares produced in the EU under fair circumstances, we work only with local professionals here in Hungary so we support the local industry. We never use exotic skins (like alligators, snakes, reptiles, ostrich, exotic fishes etc) or real fur. We collect our remained material cuts and now we started to develop methods how to recycle them in a fashionable way and we newer throw away leather pieces, as we use everything for our key rings and the remained small pieces are collected and donated for local fashion students or recycled. Sometimes we use recycled materials for our clothes and we would like to strengthen the usage of recycled materials in our collections.

I had always a green attitude, however I am not a fanatic, but I am conscious in environmental and local industry questions. I think that mass production without reason produces only waste and a lot of people started to treat fashion and design as a valueless and replaceable thing, there are so many extra cheap replicas and products which are copying directly or indirectly the designer items without any consequences, so people started to think that the original design item is also valueless and replaceable with the replica or with the mass product. It’s an other problem that mass production requires cheap and exploited employees and the big companies went to poor countries to make production and this means that in this factories underpaid modern slaves or very young people extremely poorly paid, sometimes children.

Another problem with mass production that destroys the local industry in many countries, as the big companies are leaving their former producers for the cheaper producer but they fill the market with exta cheap products with which the local industry can not compete in price. The mas production also results environmental pollution, as everybody knows that in poor countries a lot of factories do not respect environmental standards.

Of course the question is more complicated, there are so many other related issues to talk about…

B…Do you enjoy vintage shopping?

D…Oh, yes, of course, especially vintage hats, jewels, and bejeweled evening dresses.

B...If so…what is your BEST ever buy…

D…I bought 2 weeks ago a very old spring coat probably made in the the 30′s. Its made from a gold and grey jacquard brocade fully embroidered with small beads and different metal applications. Its really beautiful.

B…How would you describe your personal style…

D…Very eclectic, so it depends on my mood and the occasion. I prefer winter and autumn when I can vary more the layers. I love to be very feminine, so I wear very often high heels, red nails and lipstick. I like to wear black, white, electric blue, red, fucsia, light blue, nude and violet. I love leggings with short dresses, and I am absolutely coat, handbag and shoe addict, so I have a wide range from this items.

B…Diamonds or Pearls?

D…Diamonds, but I do not refuse pearls.

B…What do you do to relax?

D…Reading novels, party-friends-family, sitting on my terrace wondering on the Budapest view and drinking champagne, going in to the nature and just watching the plants and animals, travelling, drawing, chat, internet etc…

B…And whats your perfect night out…?

D…Dancing all night and then relaxing a bit in the taxi in the morning

B…What Era would you LOVE to live in…and why?

D…I would like to have a time machine and to visit different eras, especially the future when the space travel will be a usual thing.

B…The desert that makes you go mmmm the most…?

D…A special cookie called Non plus ultra and an other which is a coffee-nut mousse combined with a cookie, both were specialities of my grandmas.

Credits:

Photo: Bálint Trunkó

Styling: Orsi Pinczel and Dora Abodi

Hair: Ildi Tóth

Make-up: Renáta Vörös

Models: AnnaJulia and Doreen from Art models

All clothes, accessories, shoes Dora Abodi