2023 arrived with a bang!

London Fireworks, New Year 2023

Tracklist:

01:37-  Freed From Desire- Gala
05:53-  Giant- Calvin Harris
06:04-  Levitating- Dua Lipa
06:18-  No Prizes- Kae Tempest
06:28-  Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
07:02-  Unstoppable- Sia
07:29-  Stefamia- Kalush Orchestra
08:10-  Believe-  Cher
08:23-  I'm Coming Out- Diana Ross
08:41-  You Make Me Feel- Jimmy Somerville
09:21-  Stormzy- Crown
10:00-  Another Love-  Tom Odell
10:49-  Indian Summer-  Jai Wolf
11:41-  Is This Love- Bob Marley & The Wailers
11:47-  Are You Ready For Love?- Elton John
12:00-  I love You Always Forever- Donna Lewis
12:14-  Won't Let You Go- Martin Garrix
12:15-  How Deep Is Your Love- Calvin Harris & Disciples
12:22-  You Got The Love-  Florence & Machine
12:41-  Grace- Kae Tempest
12:53-  It Must Be Love- Madness
13:27-  Essence- Wizkid
13:41-  Patiala Peg- Diljit Dosanjh (Indian Punjabi Singer)
13:54-  Shivers- Ed Sheeran
13:55-  Take Me Back To London- Ed Sheeran
14:17-  Love At First Sight- Kylie Minogue
14:39-  Starlight- Dave
14:46-  Crazy What Love Can Do- David Guetta & Becky Hill & Ella Henderson
15:16-  Lionheart- Joel Corry & Tom Grennan
15:51-  We Found Love- Rihanna
16:51-  Auld Lang Syne- Boney M

Happy New Year!

Viv

“It is not possible for a man to be elegant without a touch of femininity.”

“I never look at fashion magazines. I find them incredibly boring. To me, reading a fashion magazine is the last thing I need to do. I've got books I need to read. More people should read books. It's the most concentrated experience you can have. You know, all those incredible geniuses concentrated their lifetimes' experiences in books. It's much better than chattering away to somebody who's never read anything and knows nothing at all.”

“Culture is necessary for human beings to evolve into better creatures.”

"If you wear clothes that don't suit you, you're a fashion victim. You have to wear clothes that make you look better."

"I may be a rebel, but I am not an outsider."

"If in doubt, dress up."

Yet another icon has departed, on a mission to make Fabulon a more stylish place...

RIP, Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE RDI (8th April 1941 – 29th December 2022)

Festive baubles...

...Amanda LePore style!

Have a good one...

The dark time of the year

Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart’s heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,
Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire
In the dark time of the year.
- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

Montol, Brumalia, Lohri, Yalda, Koliada, Dongzhi, Mid-winter's Day, whatever you call it, the Winter Solstice - the longest night - is today.

Roll on Spring...

REAL Royalty

[click to enlarge]

HRH Princess Margaret and her "courtiers" on the island of Mustique.

An apposite musical moment

Klaus Nomi - Cold Song [Purcell]

What Power art thou,
Who from below,
Hast made me rise,
Unwillingly and slow,
From beds of everlasting snow?

See'st thou not how stiff,
And wondrous old,
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold.

I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath,
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath.

Let me, let me, Let me,
let me, Freeze again...
Let me, let me, Freeze
again to death!

Indeed.

She had all the gifts

RIP, Dame Beryl Grey CH DBE FRSA (11th June 1927 – 10th December 2022), pioneering dancer, producer and director in the companies of English National Ballet, the Royal Ballet and London Festival Ballet.