Add some colour to your Summer July 1, 2010 vitra vegetal chair in brick red £284, see www.vitra.com for stockists glow coffee table £149 www.dwell.co.uk lighthouse oil lamp £16.95 www.dwell.co.uk Kanpazar Garden Light £580 www.gomodern.co.uk Frou Frou White Parasol £1,490 www.gomodern.co.uk HEALS DECKCHAIR £75 www.heals.co.uk MEDIUM ORCHID POTS £79 www.conranshop.co.uk
The great barbecue debate July 1, 2010 ACCORDING to anthropologists, in our hunter-gather days men only ever prepared food in two situations; at feasts for special occasions, or making quick, simple meals of meat cooked over open fires when they were out on hunting trips. In other words, they were either chefs, or they barbecued. Sound familiar? In this heat, nobody wants [...]
SELLING July 1, 2010 Russell Hunt MANAGING DIRECTOR AT PROPERTY HUNT Q. Dear Russell, has the abolition of home information packs (Hips) helped the London property market? A.I think that the removal of Hips has definitely been a positive thing because people just don’t like putting their hands in their pockets and paying for something up-front with no guarantee [...]
The classic, lightweight summer look July 1, 2010 AMONG the less heralded achievements of the Victorians was the invention of the male linen suit – heavy wool was hardly the material in which to go lording it over the colonies. Still a summer staple, the linen suit’s trump card – other than the fact that you can wear it in hot weather without [...]
Put colour back in your pocket July 1, 2010 SINCE men everywhere fell under the spell of Don Draper, a neat white strip in the breast pocket has been a de rigueur suit accessory. It helped too that the crisp lines and white on grey tones suited fashion’s move towards sober asceticism. But hey, summer’s here, the sun’s out, and such sombre restraint is [...]
Fright entertainment July 1, 2010 Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman may just have created the Blair Witch Project of theatre. Not simply because their show, Ghost Stories, is liable to turn even the most hardened horror nut into a gibbering wreck – though by many accounts it will – but because, like Blair Witch, having been created on a wing [...]
Evergreen hero says good-bye in comic style July 1, 2010 Film SHREK FOREVER AFTER Cert: U The fourth and final instalment of the popular Shrek franchise sees everyone’s favourite Scottish cartoon ogre return for what’s supposedly the final chapter (predictably upgraded to 3D). Like many who saw the third installment, Shrek (voiced as ever by Mike Myers) has grown pretty bored. Bogged down by both [...]
The book that’s got men cracked June 30, 2010 EXTRACT WHAT THE HELL IS HE THINKING? ALL THE QUESTIONS YOU’VE EVER ASKED ABOUT MEN ANSWERED BY ZOE STRIMPEL FIG TREE, £8.99 WHY DOES HE BOTHER WITH GRAND GESTURES, THEN FAIL TO FOLLOW THROUGH? EVERY girl, no matter how independent and cynical, wants to be swept off her feet. Dear God, I’m putty in the [...]
The Gaul the world loves June 30, 2010 I’VE visited a lot of restaurants in London: flashy ones, rustic ones, refined European ones, rooftop ones, flamboyantly ethnic ones and ones that closed after not very long at all. My favourite, on many levels, is Sketch – less a restaurant than a pleasure dome. I love that an eccentric man greets you and speaks [...]
Three hotpots for rooftop drinks June 30, 2010 EVEN a hint of clemency in London weather sends people out onto the streets to try to lap up a ray or two. This summer, though, we seem to have a proper excuse to drink outside. The only question is: where? Well, banish thoughts of rammed pubs or overly exclusive venues. London is now home [...]