Your unusually stylish Heyday Friday newsletter
There's a double helping of fabulous fashion, a generous helping of autumnal soup, a witty helping of romantic comedy and an unexpectedly plentiful helping of Words of Wisdom in this week's newsletter
I usually try to make sure my blogs are pretty quick to read, but I can’t promise that can be said about this week’s. Having said which, as it’s about two fabulous fashion exhibitions I really recommend you see if you can, it does feature a lot of pictures, so if you were so inclined, you could just enjoy looking at them and not bother with the words. Although as I’ve spent quite some time carefully crafting them, that might be a bit of a shame.
If you need some more encouragement to dip into the blog (and I do realise the above hardly qualifies as encouragement) hopefully the fact that it features a fascinating exhibition called Beyond The Little Black Dress at the National Museum of Edinburgh (which is, by the way, one of the best museums I’ve visited in a long time. What a building! And what fantastic displays inside it!), and a breathtakingly exquisite retrospective of the work of iconic designer Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, will persuade you to CLICK HERE and indulge in both the pictures and words.
And as you’re one of my hugely valued newsletter subscribers (thank you) here are a few exclusive bonus pics, to give you a taste of what you’ll find when you look at the blog.
These ones are from the Little Black Dress exhibition
And these are some of the 200 glorious pieces on display in the Chanel exhibition
You definitely want to see more now, don’t you?
Here’s THE LINK again so that you can
As you can probably tell, whilst I enjoyed the Little Black Dress exhibition enormously, I absolutely LOVED the Chanel one, so I’m doing something a little different in this week’s newsletter in honour of the complicated, innovative and brilliant woman it honours and sharing a selection of her, typically straight-talking
WORDS OF WISDOM
It doesn’t take much of a nip in the air to make me reach for my favourite soup recipes. And there’s definitely a more than a tinge of autumn about the evenings here in London. So I’m starting the season as I mean to go on, with a scrummy bowl of
PEA SOUP
This makes enough for four people and takes just 15 mins to prepare. The recipe is from an American website called The Endless Meal, so uses cups
Melt 1tbsp butter in a large pot. Add 1 onion roughly chopped and 3 cloves of garlic, crushed. Cook until the onion is transparent (should take about 3 mins)
Add 6 cups of frozen or fresh peas, 70g fresh or frozen spinach, 4 cups of stock (I use chicken, but you can use vegetable to keep this vegetarian) and 1tsp fresh thyme and bring to a very gentle simmer.
Blend the soup until it’s smooth. Return to the heat warm through and season if necessary. Add some more peas and swirl with yogurt or sour cream to serve.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……READING
It’s hard enough to write a novel about romance that’s relatable without being cringey. It’s even harder to make it funny. Curtis Sittenfeld triumphantly does both in this tale of divorced writer Sally, and heart-throb pop star Noah, who guest stars in and presents an episode of the late night sketch show, The Night Owls (bearing more than a passing resemblance to Saturday Night Live) she works on.
Sally’s confidence and wit mask her deep seated insecurity and reluctance to open herself to any kind of committed relationship, let alone with a superstar musician who is as talented as he is good looking. After all, one of her show’s long running and most successful sketches is about how, whilst gorgeous women can go out with averagely attractive men, it never happens the other way round.
Unsure about whether the exchanges between them during the frenetic preparation week for the live show are anything more than professional courtesy, and subconsciously dive bombing anything that might mean they turn into more, Sally parts company with Noah having delivering a stinging rejoinder at the after show party.
Two years later and in the throws of the pandemic, Noah re-establishes contact by email and the two wordsmiths quickly relax into an increasingly open and intimate on-line conversation. What that leads, and, in the nature of all the best love stories, the bumps in the road the two encounter along the way to the satisfying, if predictable conclusion, is enjoyably and engagingly told.
As well as being a warm hearted and witty tale about the messy business of life and love, Romantic Comedy is also a compelling insight into the exhaustingly frenzied process of creating a live TV sketch show, and a thoughtful examination of modern day celebrity.
I think these next Words of Wisdom from Coco Chanel also qualify as a
FRIDAY FUNNY
don’t you?
That’s the lot for this week. I’ll be back next time with a story about an unexpected encounter, or rather re-encounter, that happened to me in a colourful little shop in a delightful little town on the west coast of Scotland.
Until then, I’ll leave you with one final helping of wisdom from the unmatchable Coco Chanel.
Diane x
