Baby, it's cold outside
A woman who sewed through the night to start a business in the 1980s is now head of a company with a turnover of more than €25 million and 50 stores in the UK. Laura Tenison MBE, chief executive and founder of mother and baby specialist Jojo Maman Bébé, opens her first Irish store at 14 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2, on November 9th. Tenison hails from a Co Monaghan family and remembers with affection childhood holidays with her grandmother near Ballybay. Having spent three years after school working on the Breton coast, she was struck by how French children’s clothing was both functional and cute, and argues that Jojo’s clothes “offer French style with Irish practicality”. Apart from items such as 100 per cent waterproof rainwear made from recycled polarfleece, there will also be nursery gifts and toys.
Bag Lady
Kay Lennox, always quick to spot something unusual and different for her Clothes Peg boutique in Sutton, has just introduced Amishi bags to Ireland. These exquisite creations, regularly spotted on the red carpet, don't come cheap, nor look it either, being made with crystals, shells, mother of pearl and semi-precious stones. They have self explanatory names like Disco Ball, Leopard, Gold Wallflower, Red Rose, Emerald Heart. This one in black snakeskin with a crystal clasp is called Lucia and costs €250. Others from €80. Clothespeg.ie
LBJ forever
Claudia Schiffer wears hers with a white apron. Uma Thurman is sultry in white lace and cufflinks and Daphne Guinness is laden with elaborate jewellery. We’er talking about The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited, which features more than 100 celebrities, actors, models, film directors and artists wearing the classic Chanel jacket in their own particular way, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and styled by Carine Roitfeld. If you can’t get your hands on the book, then see the photographs at The Little Black Jacket exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
The most carefree – quelle surprise – is Jane Birkin in jeans, and the most angelic is Elle Fanning. Kanye West wears it with pearls. Riccardo Tisci looks as if he's stepped from a Renaissance painting, while Yoko Ono gets six pages to herself. Charlotte Gainsbourg displays her pregnancy with joy, Micheline Chaban-Delmas shows her age fearlessly (in her 80s, she is the widow of a former French prime minister), and Anna Wintour turns her back to the camera. See thelittleblackjacket.chanel.comfor more information.
Boutique of the week: Alexander McQueen, London
The McQ (familiar initials) flagship opened recently at 14 Dover Street in Mayfair, London, a few steps away from John Rocha’s shop in a similar Georgian building. It is spread over three floors, with interiors created by Irish designer David Collins in tandem with Sarah Burton of McQ. The store offers runway pieces as well as ready-to-wear. Its gesture-controlled mirrors on the first and lower-ground floors allow customers to browse the collections and photograph themselves in looks which they can share with friends via social media or email. The shop concept was drawn from the idea of a surrealist boudoir contrasted with Brutalism; in reality, utilitarian features such as concrete contrast with handcrafted finishes, flock velvet with japanned lacquer. The shop is home to the entire McQ collection – womenswear, menswear, shoes and accessories.
