Weddings in London

September 3rd, 2010

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Couture Wedding Dress by Kosibah

Wedding Dress by Kosibah

Inspired by a fabulous wedding we attended last weekend, I got to thinking about the planning and preparation that goes into organising a wedding event. In particular, if you’re planning a wedding in London, how on earth do you decide who will make your wedding dress or where to get the wedding shoes and will they be comfortable? Which venue to choose? What flowers? Where do I get wedding favours…? Many questions and so much choice!

It occurred to me that at 21st Century Village, as we work with independent designers and talented small businesses, we know of several excellent specialists who will help make your wedding day very special. My aim is not to be exhaustive but rather to be selective, providing just a few top specialist addresses.

If you happen to be planning a wedding in London,  we hope you find this blog helpful! You may know someone who is thinking about a London wedding – if so, pass it on!

Couture Bridal Gown

Bridal Gown by Ritva Westenius

The Wedding Dress
At 21st Century Village, we represent two highly acclaimed couture wedding dress designers, who will custom-make you a fabulous wedding gown. Ritva Westenius is based in Connaught Village and epitomises the very best of British bridal design. At Kosibah, award winning bridal designer Yemi Osunkoya creates wonderful wedding gowns in a contemporary style. These gowns are truly figure-enhancing. Kosibah design studios are based in Camden.

Wedding Shoes
For beautifully made, elegant yet comfortable wedding shoes, we have two very exciting London addresses. Emma Hope, renowned British shoe designer, is famed for her beautifully made and incredibly comfortable wedding shoes. Visit the Emma Hope store on Westbourne grove. J’Adores in East London’s Victoria Park specialises in wedding shoes and also offers a bespoke wedding shoe service. Shoes come with matching bags of course.  J‘Adores also provides wedding jewellery and accessories at great value.  Both of these specialist boutiques will help you select dress shoes and bags for bridesmaids and mother of the bride.

Wedding Rings

Wedding Rings from 4Cs

Wedding Rings
We recommend independent London jewellery designer and diamond ring specialist 4Cs Diamonds. 4Cs deals exclusively in wedding rings and engagement rings and is based in Hatton Garden, the home of wedding jewellery and diamonds in London.

Wedding Venues & Catering
Our choice London wedding venue is Hampstead’s stunning Burgh house, set against the beautiful backdrop of Hampstead Heath. The venue caters for 75 seated guests, but do contact them directly for more specific information on numbers. The gourmet catering is expertly provided by the wonderful Leafi catering, who pride themselves on always exceeding client’s expectations. Leafi Catering can also take care of your wedding cake.

Wedding Venue Styling
The venue extras can really make a difference. Family run business Mediterranean Occasions are specialists in elegant venue styling for weddings. They provide exquisite table tops, dazzling table centre pieces, chair covers, candelabra hire and wedding favours.

Wedding Flowers

Wedding Bouquet

Wedding Flowers
We leave you in excellent hands with our five talented London florists, who will provide you with fantastic floral creations for your special day. From Hawthorn’s Florists in the East to Phillo Flowers in the West, these are among the most talented floral designers in the capital.

Wedding Gifts
Try our luxury gifts feature for some inspiring ideas for wedding lists. For example, designer home ware specialist Emma Bridgewater and kitchen accessories Richard Dare both operate wedding lists.

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Designer Bathroom Suites

August 25th, 2010

Are you right now considering to install a new bathroom in your home? If yes, C.P. Hart of Primrose Hill is offering a great deal!

The Philippe Starck contemporary designer bathroom suite is on offer for an incredible price of only £1,395 including VAT! This designer suite comes complete with a basin and bath with all necessary components, WC, shower and shower screen. As you would expect from a Philippe Starck suite, only the finest materials have been used to produce this elegant bathroom set, with its inspiring aesthetics and acute attention to detail.

Philippe Starck bathroom suite

The Philippe Starck bathroom suite for £1,395 including VAT

This is a unique opportunity to secure a luxury bathroom without the luxury prices.

C.P. Hart of Primrose Hill specialises in designer bathrooms,  including bespoke stone baths. C.P. Hart is delighted to make this Philippe Starck offer available to customers.
For more information, contact C.P. Hart on 0845 600 1950.

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Hub Fashion Boutique

August 20th, 2010
From the ACNE Aviator Collection, AW 2010

ACNE Aviator Dress

A slight autumnal nuance has crept into London’s weather over the last couple of days. Never mind, the AW 2010 Aviator collection from ACNE awaits – a very good reason to visit the HUB fashion boutique this weekend in North London’s Stoke Newington.

Top fashion brand ACNE of Sweden travelled back to the 1920’s in search of inspiration for this autumn collection. Amelia Earhart - tomboy, adventurist, style icon and aviator animates the ACNE AW 2010 men’s and women’s collection. It’s creative, striking and wonderfully combines masculine and feminine – just like Amelia!

In putting together a wardrobe to suit her lifestyle (airplanes were very cold places in those days), she looked to sports that were more established at that time – the equestrian world in particular and also motor racing.

Hence the jodhpurs and the sheep-skin lined leather jackets, zipped of course. Her look ranged from military leather to glamorous evening dresses (befitting her celebrity status).

ACNE dresses

ACNE Liberte Dress

So with its usual elegance and creativity, ACNE brings us this autumn a fine collection of aviator jumpsuits with a feminine twist, pleated chiffon dresses and shirts, flowing scarves and zip front dresses in military style.

More Hub Fashion and accessories brands for women include Folk, Sessun, Humanoid and Mimi.

Tip: Take your boyfriend – the Hub Men’s boutique is just across the road! This award wining boutique has lots of  really stlyish men’s fashion brands for casual wear including Barbour, Fred Perry, Lee, MHL and Nudie!

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Architectural Glass Specialist

August 18th, 2010
Bespoke Glass Sink by Specialist Glasswork

Bespoke Glass Sink

Our line of work gives us the opportunity to meet many talented artisan craftspeople who work to the highest standards in very specialised areas. One of these is bespoke and structural glass specialist Didier Avignon.

Didier is truly an expert in his field. His company, Specialist Glasswork is an exciting specialist glass decoration company located in North London and serving the area within London’s M25.  

Matching glass worktop and kitchen island

Glass worktop

Incorporating glass architecturally into you home can greatly enhance the contemporary look of your property. This can take many forms – in addition to glass worktops and glass splashbacks  which are ideal for kitchens, you can transform your bathroom with coloured glass shower screens complete with matching glass sinks and custom mirrors. For a spectacular effect, consider glass stairs and balustrades, coloured glass doors and even walls.

Advanced Glass Techniques
Specialist Glasswork works with private home owners using innovative glass techniques to create stunning kitchens and bathrooms. Glass splashbacks, tailor made shower screens and enclosures and glass kitchen worktops are their signature service!

Etched glass mirrors

Etched glass mirrors

With regard to finish, they can match any paint colour for back splashes and countertops from popular paint ranges such as Farrow & Ball, Fired Earth, Dulux and Heritage collection – essentially any colour you choose...

New Website:
Specialist Glasswork has recently launched  a new website.
You can browse their portfolio online and take a peek at the impressive client list.
If you would like more information, you can email Specialist Glasswork for a no obligation FREE quote…
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Childrens Fancy Dress

August 13th, 2010

Now that we are half way through the school holidays, many of us adults are no doubt busy thinking up great activities to keep the little ones amused! Hardly surprising then that summer is London’s most popular time for kid’s fancy dress parties – outdoor birthday parties, fancy dress events at summer festivals and of course Mad Hatter Tea parties. 

With this in mind, we wanted to tell you about the Dressing Up Chest – an independent artisan business, run by the very talented Libby Boalch. She hand-makes fancy dress costumes for little boys & girls and enjoys a loyal following throughout London. Costumes are made to order, either individually or for groups / events.

Little Red Riding Hood costume

Little Red Riding Hood Cape

Each costume is made by hand, with great care and competitively priced. Libby excels at making whatever costume your child requires – cowboy (and cowgirl) outfits, clown suits, little red riding hood outfits, pirate and sailor suits.

Special birthday party deals:
If you are planning a birthday party for your child this summer, the Dressing Up Chest can provide a fairy costume (complete with wings, wand and little tutu) or a pirate costume (bandana, eye patch and striped trousers) for £12 per child!

The kids can have great fun dressing up and playing party games AND they get to take home the outfits afterwards!

Browse online for examples of dressing up costumes or drop Libby an email to discuss your requirements

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Columbia Road Market

August 11th, 2010

Having offered to help a freshly relocated friend to revamp his small garden, I had the perfect reason visit the Sunday morning Columbia Road flower market in East London and I could hardly wait. An old London tradition, every Sunday from 8.00 am to 3ish, Columbia Road morphs into a vibrant street market selling cut flowers, plants, herbs, shrubs and trees  – it’s like an enormous garden centre in the street, each stall with it’s own specialisation.

Blue Campanula at Columbia Road

Stunning Blue Campanula at Columbia Road Market

We set off early, to avoid the midday throngs, on a warm late July London morning and arrived on a pleasantly buzzy but not yet crowded Columbia Road. We were greeted by this blossoming market with a dazzling display of brilliant colour – a feast for the eyes.
Sunday morning flower market

Columbia Road

More than Flowers: Apart from the flora, there is much to commend this charming market. The little side streets are packed with cafes and courtyards and even more outdoor markets. We headed straight for Ezra Street for coffees and bagels at Samoan Joes, which we enjoyed sitting in the charming little courtyard. Outside a jazz duo bedazzled the coffee drinkers in the square – little kids were dancing everywhere.

Sunday Flower market

Sunday Flower market Columbia Road

Just opposite is the famed Jones Dairy Café, now with a restaurant attached. Down to the left, we stumbled upon yet another court yard, full of independent stalls selling books, ceramics, copperware as well as food stalls selling delicious looking salamis and cheeses, breads, olives and oils, chutneys, sauces and jams.

Cut flowers at Columbia Road Market

Freshly cut flowers at Columbia Road Market

With 60 plus independent shops dotted all around the flower market, there is something here for everyone. Columbia Pottery has beautiful plant containers, Milagros has stunning Mexican glassware and tiles in vibrant colours. L’Orangerie is great for fashion jewellery and accessories, Angela Flanders for perfume, futuristic maps of London from The Future Mapping Company, antiques from Ben Southgate and many other dealers, prints from Elphick’s and lots of vintage fashion and retro accessories. 

 
Back to the plants: You can get most everything you need here to do with flowers and plants. There is an excellent choice of cut flowers, at very reasonable prices and they stay fresh for ages. You have access to wide selection of shrubs, young trees, indoor plants, bedding plants, annuals, fuchsias, camellias, rhododendrons – all in one place. Also, there are specialist herb stalls where you can buy every possible variety of herbs in varying sizes. 
Pearly King & Queen, East London

Pearly King & Queen at Columbia Road

Having purchased all we needed, we prepared to leave around midday as the crowds had begun to arrive in force, but not before meeting the Pearly King and Queen in buttons bright!

After midday, the market tends to get very busy. But that said, the later you leave it, the better the bargains! We obviously left too early as I found out when I tried my own hand at bargaining for my two herb plants.
‘What’s your best price’ I asked the stall holder.
‘Eleventy pence’, was the instant retort.
‘Haha very funny – no really what’s your best price?’
‘Ok you can give me a £7.50!’
Me, shocked – ‘What? But they only cost £2.50 each?
‘Ok – you can give me a fiver!’ It turns out he had been running a stall here on Columbia Road now for 55 years – there ain’t much he hasn’t heard.
Haven’t had so much fun in ages!

Now – anyone else in need of a garden make over?

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Slow Fashion

July 30th, 2010

Bringing back the passion to independent fashion design…
Slow fashion is as much about lifestyle choice as visiting independent shops. Slow Fashion designers opt out of the constraints of producing 6 plus collections every year, leaving instead more time for genuine inspiration and design. They also tend to develop a unique closeness to the materials. It’s like cooking with unprocessed foods – everything is done by hand (the slow part) and with passion.

slippers for children in organic felt

Organic felt slippers

Fair Trade Fashion
In the same way as the slow food movement encourages us to think about where our food comes from, Slow Fashion asks us to consider where/ how our clothes are made. From the origin of the materials, to design and production, sustainability and fair trade are essential.

Much of this process has resulted in a growing demand for organic clothing – particularly when it comes to our children – from Mynerva specialists in organic woollen vests to organic baby mattresses from independent retail specialists.

That’s why slow fashion is a concept that appeals to not only to artisan designers but also to independent fashion designers, many of whom do not have access to the resources of big multinationals. There is usually no-one to delegate to, it’s all about just doing it yourself. This fosters a deep a relationship with the materials, textiles and producers.

Hand crafted shoes

Hand made shoes

Artisan Designers
At elegant concept store Wolf & Badger on London’s Westbourne Grove, you can discover just how sophisticated slow fashion can be.  Check out Scottish fashion designer Iona Crawford, whose latest collection is a stunning Scottish-Japanese fusion inspired by contemporary Japanese art and traditional Scottish design and fabrics.

Discover handmade shoes from CarréDucker, who make beautiful bespoke footwear for men and women.
TIP: There has been so much interest in the skill of their craft that CarréDucker are now offering courses in shoe making (96 hours) – no machines, all hand produced!  Anyone can sign up.

The Indigo felt collection at Shirdak

Indigo Collection at Shirdak

Working with Felt
Designers who work with felt tend also to naturally favour the slow fashion approach.

Many of these are showcased at the Shirdak Silk Road Gallery in Amsterdam.

Take for example the stunning work of Marga de Leest. Of her handcrafted collection ‘Waisted’, inspired by the 19th Century fashion silhouette, she says ‘I try to give my clothes a soul. I love experimenting and exploring and this results in a kind of ‘slow fashion’, not tailored for the hectic pace of the regular fashion world.’

Shirdak also brings us the exotic range of blue indigo hand woven boots from the Miao minorities of China, handmade linen from Enosis and stunning clothing in silks and felts from Dagmar Binder and  hats from Zsofia Marx.


Phylène Lemans, who produces stunning one-of-a-kind jackets in felts and silks, works with her head, her heart and her hands. Her love of producing her own fashion in her own time has led to a special relationship with the materials – something as a designer she is keen to share. So she decided to start a felt making workshop, where you can learn to make your own felt – a great idea especially if you don’t like knitting!!!

Jacket in felt & silk, Artwear Jordaan

Jacket in felt & silk, Artwear Jordaan

TIP: More info on the workshops from Artwear Jordaan a collection of independent artisan designers, slow producing beautiful garments and jewellery.

That is the essence of Slow Fashion – rather like the clothes it produces, Slow fashion is for life!

Through the passion of the designer, the beauty of the garment, we develop a relationship with the fabric that could lead anywhere! You may end up making your own jacket or silk scarf or even shoes. Why not? Most of us have by now mastered the challenge of growing our own potatoes. Having proudly served them to our dinner guests last year, we’ll now be serving them on our beautiful home made felt table mats.

Coming up next, we’ll be talking about London’s most vibrant flower market. You know the one I mean – right?

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Denim Amsterdam

June 23rd, 2010
jeans concept store

Tenue de Nimes

Independent Denim Brands from Tenue de Nîmes of Amsterdam.
Everyone in Amsterdam knows that Tenue de Nîmes has some great niche denim labels of incredible style and quality.

Recently, they took the time to tell us a little bit more about some of the inspiring fashion labels, scuh as IJIN, Denim Demon, Momotaro, Whyszeck  and menswear designer Nigel Cabourn.

If you are passionate about denim, check it out on great independent denim brands

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Football Fashion

June 8th, 2010

This week, as the tension mounts and the anticipation becomes almost unbearable, we ask ‘What will you be wearing for the 2010 world cup?’
Cruyff Classics, sports brand founded by soccer legend Johan Cruyff, has designed some great limited editions in honour of the 2010 World Cup (tee’s and shoes mainly) so you can look and feel extra special during the World Cup Extravaganza.

Let’s start with the shoes – the collection, from Cruyff Sports, is called Bafana Bafana, the affectionate term for the South African national team which means ‘the Boys’. The shoes are limited edition, in quality leather and come in four designs, packed with the vibrant colours of South Africa. Bafana Bafana shoes are very stylish indeed! And the best bit – each shoe has an inscription on the lip (or is it tongue?) stating ‘world cup South Africa 2010’. So these boots are primed to become prized possessions. Prices start at €89.95 but you need to be aware that the Bafana Bafana shoe collection is only available in the Netherlands. At the time of going to press, there are still pairs available at the  Cruyff Classics store in Amsterdam. You can view the full Bafana Bafana collection here…

Cruyff Classics, limited edition shoes, World Cup 2010 shoes

The limited Edition Bafana Bafana World Cup 2010 shoe from Cruyff Classics

If you happen to be Dutch or even just an Oranje fan, Cruyff Classics has the perfect t-shirt for you. Inspired by the heady days of the seventies when footballers first became celebrities and Johan Cruyff came to personify Total Football, the tee is in the replica ‘retro orange’ of the 1974 shirts worn by Holland and comes complete with a snazzy v-neck, and inevitably the number 14! Great value at €29.95! Available at the Cruyff store or you can also buy online.

world cup 2010 t-shirts, available online

The retro 'Oranje' No. 14 Cruyff Tee-shirt by Cruyff Classics

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Conceptual Realism Amsterdam

May 29th, 2010

Galerie Brandt
brings conceptual realism to Amsterdam, with a stunning opening exhibition from New York based artist Yigal Ozeri.

Ozeri, originally from Israel, has caused much excitement in New York with her extremely refined painting technique, which gives her work a vibrant and almost tangible reality. Her paintings generally theme around women and this exhibition of new paintings is called ‘Olga in the Park’ (featured below, oil on paper on board). Until 27 June 2010.

Galerie Brandt
is located in Amsterdam’s Spiegelkwartier (Prinsengracht 799)

Conceptual Realism paintings, Amsterdam

Olga in the Park by Yigal Ozeri, now exhibiting at Amsterdam's Galerie Brandt

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