First Love.

Everyone remembers their first love. The innocuous, the obsessional, the fleeting glances, the endless butterflies, the hours of snogging……insert sigh here.

Miss L and I have just been to a movie that managed to encounter all of that in the most beautiful way – Bright Star. The delightfully enchanting film, directed by Jane Campion made us swoon and cry in a first-love type fashion.

Based on the romance between the 19th Century new romantic poet, John Keats, and the stylish Fanny Brawne, who he nick-named ‘Minxtress’, the story takes us through their burgeoning romance up until his death, and one of the most famous love affairs in literature, unearthed nearly one hundred years later. The visual imagery, music and poetry is vulnerable yet absolutely stunning. Just like some of the items below…Sigh.

“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.”

Bright Star by John Keats £4.46 www.Amazon.co.uk

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases so it will never pass into nothingness.”
Believe necklace – Disney Couture £21.75 www.asos.com

“I almost wish we were like butterflies and lived three summer days, three such days with you, I could fill with delight more than fifty common years.”
Butterfly lights £15.40 Laura Ashley

“This is the only gown with a triple-tiered mushroom collar in the whole of Hampstead.”

Maybe not a triple-tiered collar, but this collar, £40.00 from LouLouLovesYou is the next best thing!

“Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient sleepless eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors;
No yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever or else swoon to death.”

Swoon and Shine in Mimi Holliday lingerie Bra £42.00 French brief £30.00

I am beyond excited about seeing 500 days of Summer. Not least because I have a huge girl-crush on Zooey Deschanel. Out tomorrow, Sept 2nd, this movie is about boy meeting girl. Boy falling in love. And girl? Well, she kinda doesn’t.

The blurb: From the moment Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lays eyes on Summer Finn, he knows he’s found the one. Beautiful, charming and witty, she’s the perfect woman.

Except for one little problem. Summer (Zooey Deschanel) doesn’t believe in love, relationships are messy, so why not just have fun? Over 500 days, Tom experiences the euphoric highs and agonising lows of love in a sharp, funny comedy that tells it how it really is.

If you ever needed another reason to love Audrey, which I can’t believe you ever would, but if you did, then this would most deffo be it, right?!

Print it out, pin it up and read it every day – believe!

If you’ve ever wondered what yummy dishes your favourite silverscreen movie star cooked up while in the Hollywood Hills, wonder no more, because one of my most favourite girls in the whole wide world, Miss Jenny Hammerton – film archivist, author-girl, and one forth of the awesome Shellac Sisters – is recreating recipes cooked by the silver screen stars themselves at www.silverscreensuppers.com – pop on your pink frilly apron and come bake a cake – Jean Harlow style, obv. – with us!

Jenny, I heart Silverscreen Suppers, who/what inspired you to create it?
Many years ago I found a beautiful 1930s book called “Favorite Recipes of the Movie Stars” in a dusty junk shop in Norwich . It was full of wonderful pictures of film stars in their kitchens grappling with mixing bowls and trying to tempt live turkeys into ovens! The recipes were strange and enticing so I decided there and then to start eating like my idols. I created a blog to record my adventures in creating signature dishes of the stars, and to help me remember the huge amounts of fun I had sharing them with friends.

How do you know so much about Silvercreen stars and what they ate?
I trained as a film archivist and old movies have always been a passion. I’m like a terrier when it comes to research and my favourite place for delving is the newspaper library in Colindale. I love ferreting around in vintage fan magazines looking for recipes. It’s easy to get sidetracked as the mags are full of glorious fashion plates, beauty tips and general gossip but when I DO find a recipe I feel like Sherlock Holmes in a frock.

What came first, the love of silverscreen stars or the love of food?
I have three brothers and on Saturdays my parents were both out at work. We took it in turns to choose what to watch on television and I used to endure weeks and weeks of wall-to-wall sport until joy-of-joys it would be my turn and I could watch old movies! So the silver screen stars came first – definitely!

Who’s your most favourite silverscreen star and why?
It has to be Joan Crawford. On-screen and off, I find her life and work endlessly fascinating. Her recipes are so eccentric. She loved to entertain and would serve the most bizarre things at her dinner parties such as Almond Soup and Creamed White Onions in a Red Pepper Cup. I think the word I would use to describe her taste in food would be “fanciful”. I also love the fact that she would have specific outfits for specific tasks – she had certain dresses that were her “writing letters in the afternoon” dresses for example.

And what’s your favourite recipe s’far?
Marlene Dietrich’s Lamb Chops en Casserole is a definite winner. I’m also very fond of Carole Lombard’s Cherry Pie. Oh and Clara Bow’s Vanilla Marlow… And Errol Flynn’s Baked Fish Havanaise… It’s too tricky to pick just one!

When you cook up a silverscreen supper do you dress up like your fave idol-girl too? I love that idea!
Oh yes, dressing up and flinging quotes from the movies around is all part of the fun! If I’m making Greta Garbo’s Swedish Meatballs I make sure to behave all moody and say, “Gif me a whisky, with ginger ale on the side. And don’t be stingy baby” on a regular basis. As a DJ with the Shellac Sisters I have lots of wonderful vintage numbers which I can don to get into the Silver Screen mood. I’ve also got quite a collection of vintage pinnys too – cooking can be a messy business when you are wearing a shelf-bust prom dress!

Have you had any kitchen disasters while making a Silverscreen Supper – care to share?
Oh goodness me, yes. My poor flatmates had to be very polite about Ginger Rogers’ Butterscotch Date Pudding (it had tapioca in it), Pat O’Brien’s Corned Beef Patties were quite frankly inedible and I never could get Jean Arthur’s Chocolate Fudge to set!

I want to cook like a silverscreen goddess-girl, do you have any plans for a book?
Sassy Minxes everywhere will be able to sprinkle stardust around their kitchens very soon! I’m hoping to have a little livre of loveliness out for Christmas 2010. If your gorgeous readers want to be first to know about it I’m setting up a mailing list over at the blog – www.silverscreensuppers.com – just come by and drop me an email. Also currently looking for volunteers to test cook the recipes – there are over 3500 in the collection and 100 have been selected for the book. All test cooks will receive an acknowledgement in the book – which glamour goddess will YOU choose to impersonate in your kitchen Miss Lisa?! - Ohhhhh, I can’t possibly decide Miss J, I’ve got the Clara Bow bob, and am prone to the Joan Crawford diva-like outbursts, but wouldn’t mind baking cupcakes ala Jayne Mansfield either – ohh, decisions, decisions! - Lisa

Who would be your ideal Silverscreen dinner party guests and why?
Joan Crawford (for some outrageous diva style behaviour)
Bette Davis (for some catty comments regarding the above)
Greta Garbo (just to gaze at in awe)
Louise Brooks (for some intelligent conversation)
Clark Gable (for some after-dinner-rolling-around)

Jenny’s Sassy List!
Colour: Black & White – natch!
City: Austin, Texas and not just because cowboys are my weakness… It has the BEST vintage clothes shops and my co-writer and bosom buddy Caroline lives there.
Website: current fave is www.movie-tone.com and I also love www.bust.com – getting a copy of this kick ass sassy magazine drop on my doormat every now and then really boosts my creative energy. I wish the UK had a print magazine like this.
Movie: Currently loving Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard.
Album: I only have 78rpms, albums are far too modern! My current fave 78 is: “My Wife is on a Diet” by Henry Hall.
Book: “My Way of Life” by Joan Crawford shares equal first place with Marlene Dietrich’s “ABC”. Both jaw-droppingly mad.
Shop: My local supplier of fabulous frocks – www.frillseekersvintage.co.uk and the Hammersmith Vintage Clothes Fairs. I can also be known to come over all faint in the kitchen department of John Lewis when browsing the crockery and time saving devices.
Food: Marion Martin’s Peanut and Bacon Bouchees for a pre-dinner snack accompanied by Tallulah Bankhead’s favourite “French 75” cocktails. Constance Bennett’s Spanish Chicken for a main course and Ida Lupino’s Lemon Mousse for dessert. Then a long lie down with a big box of chocolates a la Jean Harlow!

Don’t you just love her? I’m now looking EVERYWHERE for a copy of Joan Crawford’s My Way of Life – if anyone ever see’s a copy, or has a copy I can borrow, PLEASE let me know! Now go check out www.silverscreensuppers.com right now, and come back to The Sassy Minx soon to see and hear from Jenny in her other role as one forth of vintage DJ ensemble, Shellac Sisters – I know, she’s too-cool-for-school, right?!

I know this movie isn’t out ’til September, but I can’t help but get excited about it right now…yep, THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, my soon-to-be new favourite movie, puts you in the very expensive shoes of the world’s most influential woman in fashion, Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue magazine.

With her trademark bob and oversized sunglasses, Anna proves that this ain’t no Devil Wears Prada, this is the real deal. THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE is an amusing, touching and often surprising look at the inner workings and untouchable glamour of the fashion industry. It follows Anna and her staff as they prepare the biggest ever issue of the magazine at fashion shoots in Paris, London and Milan.

Exposing the truth behind the pictures, and featuring appearances from some of the world’s most fascinating designers including Jean Paul Gautier, and actress and cover girl Sienna Miller, THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE is a must see for all fashion lovers and wannabe fashion writers.

To channel your inner Anna, you absolutely, positively NEED oversized black sunglasses, try on this Dior pair for size – J’adore.
Diorissima sunglasses by Dior, £162 www.sunglasses-shop.co.uk

To maintain a snow-white British complexion ala Anna, make sure you slap on the sun lotion. Tesco Sun Protection 20 medium SPF has a specially formulated cell protection system to moisturise and avoid ageing – Anna would be proud!
Tesco Sun Protection 20 medium SPF, £3.00, www.tesco.com

Jergens® Naturalsâ„¢ has found a quick and easy route to making sure you’re as firm and fabulous as any model-girl in the pages of a magazine, by creating the 96% Skin Firming moisturiser. It helps to visibly firm and moisturise cellulite prone skin in just two uses! Now it’s possible to have firmer and smoother skin without having to hit the treadmill – happy, happy days!

200ml moisturiser, £4.88 – Available in stores including Boots, Superdrug, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons.

A copy of Vogue – a must-have for any fashionista!
Vogue, £3.60 from any good newsagent.

For more information about the movie, visit: www.theseptemberissue.co.uk

First up – big apologies for the sporadic posting here at SM, but I’ve got a good excuse, honest…I’ve moved house!

Yep, hang the pink bunting, Sassy Minx HQ has a new pile o’ bricks – it’s a by-the-sea girly pad and while it’s not entirely pink and fabulous just yet, I’m channeling Martha Stewart – the domesticated goddess Martha, not the fraud/prison dwelling Martha – to make sure that it will be very, very soon, by making lists.

I am a list-making freak.

Fact.

I am obsesso-girl about making lists, I love the satisfaction of writing things down and crossing them off, it soothes me. Is that weird? Anyway, I love it, especially when I have a cute li’l list making book to make my million, gazillion lists in….

Isn’t it cute? It’s £3.50 from – www.juicylucydesigns.com The gorgeous Miss Juicy Lucy makes quite possibly the most adorbz line in stationery EVER, but this li’l list-making book is my absolute favourite and is where I’ve made my next list, my things-I-want-need-must-have-for-my-new-home list. Wanna see it?

This cherry Red Lips phone will be perfect for when I’m reclining on my pretty pink sofa and chatting to a pretty, pretty boy who’s telling me how fabulous I am.  £24.99 – www.dollydagger.co.uk

I am having a heart-bursting love affair with Paris and to remind myself of my sweet, sweet love I’ve absolutely, positively got to have this Famille Summerbelle beautiful map of the city I adore.  £45.00 – www.bodieandfou.com

This pair of Venetian-style floral etched mirrored angel wings make me sigh out loud, aren’t they just beautiful? £189.00 – www.grahamandgreen.co.uk

I plan on having a black and white boudoir and would very, very much like this silk-screen printed above my bed – who wouldn’t? $25.00 – www.madebygirl.com

I’ve already set to work creating the cutest, most pink-filled bathroom you ever did see, and these Cath Kitson candles would be the perfect-o, sweet-smelling accessory for a chilled out bath time – le sigh.  £8.00 – www.cathkitson.co.uk

This vintage inspired distressed looking metal 1950’s Pin-up ‘boudoir’ wall plaque is adorbz. Want it for my kitchen – love, love, love!  £9.99 – www.gracieella.com

If you have any other items of cuteness – I like pretty/retro/tacky – you think the Pink Palace might need, please hook me up!

Here’s how to channel 60’s Britannia – peace, out.

Start by watching this…

Then, visit the website – it’s wicked. I scored 14 outta 15 for the music quiz and got to ‘restyle’ myself swinging 60’s stylee.
www.theboatthatrocked.co.uk

Okay, so they aren’t strictly 60’s, but I will happily sail the seas in these babies…

£80 – www.office.co.uk

Put a swing in your step on your way to work by listening to The Kinks Greatest Hits…

£2.99 – www.play.com

Visit Ms Sophie’s Paisley Daisy store for retro-style cushions, bags and handmade uniqueness – I’m digging the clutches.

£28.99 - www.paisleydaisy.co.uk

Rock your bedtime with these Rule Brittania Pillows…

£15.95 – lilyandlime.myshopify.com

Now read about the man that pioneered British radio…

£9.95 – www.amazon.co.uk

The Boat That Rocked is OUT NOW.

Coco Chanel was a Sassy Minx; feisty, fabulous and freakin’ stylish. She famously said “a girl should be two things; classy and fabulous” and so with this in mind, it makes total sense that my long-term girl-crush, Amelie star, Audrey Tautou, is playing the celebrated fashion designer in Coco avant Chanel, the first of the Coco Chanel battling biopics to be released this April.

Luckily for the directors of this particular movie, both Tautou and Chanel sipped from the same super-stylish cup of ‘French-girl Pretty’ so when you catch your first look at Tautou in that famous ‘Coco recline’, you’ll be forgiven for thinking they’re one of the same. Yep, the movie is a little bit indulgent, but then surely, a movie about a style icon always would be, non? And if you don’t dig period pieces or appreciate fashion then there’s a really big chance that you’re probably not going to have a lot of love for it, but personally, I really can’t think of a better way to practice my GCSE level French.

Beautiful backdrops, killer stylin’ and Ohh-la-la accents – I’m applying an obligatory squirt of Chanel no. 5 and lashings and lashings of red lipstick as we speak. J’taime.

Ohh-la-la!
Here’s how to create your own French-girl Pretty, the Sassy Minx way – tres magnifique!

Chanel No. 5
Chanel No. 5 has been described as the world’s most ‘legendary fragrance’ and in 1953, when asked what she wore in bed, Marilyn Monroe famously replied, “Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.” Well, if it’s good enough for Marilyn, then it’s good enough for us!

Miss Sugar Cane
Miss Aimee and I met the bee-you-tiful Marine, a young, boho Parisian and the super-talent behind Miss Sugar Cane, on a shopping trip to the totally swanksville Galleries Lafayette in Paris – a bit like Harvey Nichols, but WAY more swanks.

We both fell in insta-glitter-filled love with both Marine and her bijoux fantaisistes that are made with love in Paris. Not only does she create totally crushable-on items that flirt and tease, she’s actually worked for the super-swank Chanel, loves Marilyn Monroe and was sweet enough to give us the insider info on our city du jour – What’s not to love, right?! www.misssugarcane.com

Entre Nous: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl
“Ever wonder what gives French women that je ne sais qua?
At first you might think it’s the elegant figure, matchless style, and mysterious allure. Then you realise those qualities don’t come from just anywhere. They come from generations of women raised to cultivate an extraordinary sense of self. French women know who they are, like who they are, and excel at presenting who they are.”

Entre Nous is a flirty look at what makes French girls so freakin’ fabulous, and proves that even girls of the non-french variety can capture their unique and charismatic charm with a little bit of style, lots of spunk, and a hold-you-head-high spirit!

Red lipstick
French girls know how to rock the red lips, luckily so does my youtube fave, Johnny, who uses a selection of MAC prods to show us how to create the perfect pout – j’adore.