Mr & Mrs Smith

So I just recently discovered the Architectural Digest site when following up on Madonna's $20m sale and lemme tell you, once there all thoughts of Madge flew out of my mind! I was as click happy as I imagine a gold digger would be in a jewellery store with a black Amex! Three days later, I'm taking a breather from that design&architecture haven to meet a few work deadlines and tend to my blog.

Let's start with the Smiths personal Malibu retreat. You guys, brace yourselves! Their home is exactly how you imagined only a gazillion times more ... EVERYTHING! For starters, nearly everything is one of a kind, the sourced for material, flew in hundreds of craftsmen (master woodworkers, plasterers, metalsmiths, stonemasons, and upholsterers...) the whole shebang! 

This 25,000 square foot home to the family of five (Will, Jada, Jaden, Willow & Trey) boosts a recording studio, a home theatre (not the gadget, the actual room for viewing movies), Jada's meditation chamber in addition to the usual ensuite bedrooms and living areas that most upscale homes have. In short, its a class apart.

Somewhere on a 150-acre property in California, the Smiths made a highly personalised two story family retreat.

The door opening into the Entrance Hall is from India. Jada is a collector. Yes, of doors. 'cause they signify a threshold ....I love love love the staircase and have every intention of borrowing aspects of the hand carved balustrade design in a future project! Is that real Ivory? (It probably is. Good thing Jada isn't a PeTA spokesperson.)

The master suite though ... where to begin wanting? Let's just feast our eyes, shall we.

Dressing Room (left) and Jada's meditation space (right)

(Anticlowise from top) The bath chamber that made me catch my breath, Shower with pebbled walls with opening out to the Private terrace. I dunno about you but I could live in just these 3 spaces and be content!

If you're wondering what view is to be had from the private terrace and other parts of the house... drink in this man made lake. Of course with a gazebo. Because, why not?

Breathtaking right? And this is not even the half of it!

Clockwise from top left: Kitchen with hand curved cabinets, breakfast nook with view of gazebo & lake, dining room for 6.

Jaden's room with a set chair from his first movie.

Somehow I would never in a million years have guessed that this is Willow's room. But then again, this is just one of her bedrooms. Maybe her teen angst is acted out in another decor?

    
Guest Bedroom. I have a friend in whom I have no doubt would pull a Señor Chang and move in permanently without informing the hosts. And who can blame them?

I honestly can't do this home justice because it makes me too emotional! (Envy is an emotion, right?) For more deets just read the article over at Architectural Digest

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Cannes Wardrobe Malfunctions and the Gowns that made me go "Huh?"

Now that Cannes has wrapped and we are all just recovering from the Nicole Kidman mega fashion train, can we ease back into our days of mediocrity fashion statements by recapping the other end of the spectrum from wherever Nicole stood?

I had to start with her since I already featured her on the blog. Julianne is gorgeous, I majorly envy her hair as I do all natural redheads. So seeing her in lacklustre duds even if they're designer doesn't sit well with me. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that usually shoes save a meh outfit but her Toe-gate (as she called it on Jimmy Fallon where she was all so likeable and relatable...anyway, you just watch E!, its running this clip in the E!news segment this week) just took the outfit downhill fast!

I always struggle to reconcile Red Carpet Paz Vega and most of her on screen roles cuz RC Paz is so so cracked out! Always good for a laugh anyway!

Emmanuelle here is the french actress wife to Roman Polanski who I find endless fascinating! Seriously, his life is even more entertaining than his movies and considering these have won their fair share of awards you can draw your own conclusions. (I remember one time stumbling upon a book about him in my dad's stuff written by a woman who claims her anal raped her at Jack Nicholson's house back in the day! It was the stuff of scandal! Eeesh! Sidenote, I'm glad he learned to love again after what happen to Sharon.) Anyway, yeah. I guess being married to such a man makes all modesty and decorum to take second place to fashion statements. At least her panties matched.

Lemme preface this by confessing that I'm a huge fan of Project Runway's Unconventional Materials Challenge. Huge fan! Duct tape, Hardware, Candy, Flowers... bring it! But this self modelled biscuit tin gown by designer Larisa Katz? I think Heidi would rule OUT on this one!

Milla can do no wrong in those Resident Evil movies. Also I suspect she doesn't age. Also I think she bares more than a passing resemblance to ANTM 1winner Adrienne. That said, I hate hate hate the top half of this gown! Inside of gorgeous side boob the fit made her seem flat chested!

The back though is straight up gorgeousness!

I can't figure out who she is and I haven't the time to analyse all the outtakes of the Bling Ring team to narrow it down but holy crap on a cracker, this is quite the moon landing!

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Busy Saturday

What to wear when you're going to be all over the place all day? Flats and shorts, and long sleeved crop tops. Throw a cover up in there just in case our mercurial weather turns from sunny skies to thunder clouds while your miles from home.(as I will be.)

Don't you just hate it when in the middle of like a boring week when you've just about accepted your life is not as glamourous as you'd wish and have made piece with it, loads of plot just falls on to your laps? I'm talking every single second of your day taken up! Gaaah!
This weekend is one such. Have spent every day this week chained to my office desk and every night chained to the study desk helping my way ward nephew finish up his holiday work before the second term begins tomorrow!
and then when I'm looking forward to finally laze around to my heart's content people schedule their housewarmings, and BBQ parties, and Going-Away parties, and Kukyalas, and Fashion shows on that VERY SAME DAY!
Being the millennial with a hard case of FOMO that I am, you can bet I'm going to try and attend at least three of these and then proceed to hate everyone when monday comes round!
Till then, have a fab (hopefully-not-as-busy-as-mine) weekend.

*The outfit was planned on Polyvore. Figures crossed I remember to take a few pics for an OOTD post.*

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MARRIAGE OF MY TWO LOVES

Every once in a while you come across something so awesome you wish you had thought of doing it first. Even more rarely, it's done so well that you can't think of a single thing you'd change and therefore cannot begrudge the original doer... We've all been there, right? Now let me take you along on my latest trip to envious-but-not-hating-town.

From HIMYM to Will & Grace, this guy's detailing is meticulous!

Inaki Aliste Lizarralde, an interior designer and artist, is the brains behind these awesome popular TV show apartment floor plans. Whats not to love when architecture marries TV shows? I first came across the TBBT, SATC and Friends ones last year and proceeded to forward them to nearly all my whatsapp contacts only to get "kewl" "interesting" for replies! I don't understand why this did not blow their minds as much as it did mine! Anyhoo, I'm sure you guys are a more discerning bunch and are going to take to the heavens to dissect and debate the pros and cons and accuracy of all these, right? Let's get to it then!

I love the walk-in closet and ensuite bath!

This is needless to say my fantasy apartment. I fully intend to have this size of closet or even bigger because thus far every place I've lived in involves me hanging more clothes folded up in suitcases than hanging up in my closet.

Watching Two & a Half Men, I never quite got it why they called Charlie's home a Malibu mansion! It seemed normal sized and I figured that was just estate agent speak for "has a bit of beach". Seeing it all laid out now, I totally get it though.

And this is the realistic 2 bedroom apartment my friends and I are hoping to rent in our twenties. So far, luck hasn't been on our side.

Or this. Although I take issue with how tiny all the bedroom windows are!

Dream sprawling mansion anyone?

The Simpsons! Eeeek!

Typical bachelor pad. Awesome bathroom though.

I of course love this because it already has the drawing table in position with lots and lots of light! 

Typical bachelor pad 2

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Zoe Saldana covers Allure

I love it when Allure does nude shoots. Had a bunch of nudes from an earlier shoot that I saved in my inspiration folder (yes, I'm researching poses for nude shoots seeing as my last ones were taken in a hostel room with a 12mega pixel sony camera by a bunch of friends who then freaked out and deleted the pics and the few we had printed out on my work printer were given to boyfriends we no longer speak to. So. Next time I want the whole shebang - professional lighting, suggestive-but-totally-chaste posing and a life-size framed print out!) and then forgotten all about til I came across Zoe's latest. So I'm putting all up in this post.

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Let's Talk Cannes: Day 1

The only major movie screening at Cannes I can think of right off the bat is The Great Gatsby so let's lead with Carrie Mulligan, shall we?

Being the star of the biggest film at the festival, Carrie went for a blush Dior Couture gown. The silhouette looks familiar but she still looks great!

See? Like I said in my last post, Fan has a go to look, this Louis Vuitton boasts of the mega train and fitted bodice with detailed neckline we've all come to learn always looks resplendent on her.

Frida upped the ante on this one in a custom silk chiffon halter Gucci gown! I love Frida because I enjoy how she's stuck with her man even when she became a designer darling and he's on a show who's renewal is never certain. (*side bar* Newsroom is really great and despite Dev preoccupation with proving BigFoot is real, I think that show deserves like 5 seasons at least!)

The newest bond girl (Ms MoneyPenny is a bond girl, right?), Naomie Harris stuns with in a Calvin Klein collection  silver beaded strapless gown.
I know this isn't about me but when I was in my teens and my shoulders were naturally like this I hated showing them off, 5 years later I work out so that I can show them off! Funny how life turns out! So kudos to Naomie here, if you'd been in my life back then you would have done wonders for my self esteem

Lana looked stunning as always, and I get the Gatsby inspiration but Cannes is where you bring the colour and the sparkle and the volume!

Lana, Exhibit A for my argument: The colours! The embroidery! The shoes! The hair! Nicole killed it and buried it in this Dior! 'Nuff said!

She is a juror at this year's festival and was emcee'ing with Audrey Tattou. When you can stand next to either Spielberg or Tattou and still command the frame is when you know you nailed it in all the right places!

I mean, for once even I can't pretend Nicole didn't win this but Solange in this nude coloured sheer Stedphane Rolland gown is a close second

But there's always someone that's just begging the Fashion Police for an arrest isn't there? I actually didn't mind Julianne Moore's Dior gown, she likes these type of gown that look like the stitching wasn't top notch although the fact that they are designer attests to them being the top notchest of the top notches but its what was happening further South that made me wince and wish she had stuck with the black pumps it had been shown with on the runway!

I cannot even begin to imagine how painful that must have been! To her (stylist's) defence, there are some pics of her on the RC with the shoes looking alright....

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