STEPHEN JONES HAT EXHIBITION AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

The hats of Stephen Jones are so amusing, I have bought them for years, his quirky designs, a rubber shoe, an enlarged top hat, hats made out of plastic, make you dream of years gone by, also take you to the future.  Old films on how to wear a hat, were shown, in black and white. 

My favourite is  the 'wash and go', in see through plastic...I adore hats, they make me feel very exotic.

ON MY WAY BACK TO LONDON, IN THE AIR ...... SAD TO BE LEAVING

GENLUX MAGAZINE BRUNCH WITH THE BRITISH FILM COUNCIL IN CECCONI's, LA

A wonderful brunch given by this partnership,  the restaurant was brimming with people for this excellent event, I admired the dress sense of George, the stylist of Genlux, and Editor at Large this is an elegant LA Magazine. I had spent the previous day giving an interview with them. I love the photographs that they put in there.

CECCONI's,8764 MELROSE AVENUE, Los Angeles

Cecconi's in Los Angeles has opened for  parties all week, I was taken this morning by Pilar Boxford and Saskia. Delicious food, so happy.

OSCAR NIGHT

I can't wait....I am happy to see any scripts that people feel are appropriate...

HONOR FRASER GALLERY, 2622 LA CIENEGA BLVD

HONOR is a well known beauty from England, staggering with white skin and perfect impish features, tall elegant and aristocratic.  She has a fabulous gallery in La Cienega.  I waited on the pavement to get in but to no avail.  Afterwards though we were rewarded  with a delicious dinner in Mr Chows.

THIS IS THE SECOND EXHIBITION of TIERNEY's, in a matter of weeks.  An exciting collection of photographs, with children, balloons, family scenes, and then hidden slightly obscured is another picture, that merges gracefully into the existing negative.  Tierney is fabulous, eccentric, in pretty floral dresses, and she often is seen with her daughter on her hip.

TIERNEY GEARON ACE GALLERY, LOS ANGELES

CLOAK AND DAGGER BUTTERFLY, LA, EDEN PLACE. 17th February 2009

CLOAK AND DAGGER BUTTERFLY, LA, EDEN PLACE. 17th February 2009

I am putting a huge martini glass in my bedroom so that I can dream of being Dita Von Teese, I am going employ nil by mouth and try to achieve a 16 inch waist like hers.  I am not sure where I will put my kidneys, but the bones will definitely have to shift.  Dita is exquisite in every way, with her immaculate perfectly applied make up, her beautiful 1950's costume,she makes the rest of the world look unspectacular.  True Hollywood glamour in a perfect petite package.  I admire her dedication to be true to herself.  

Lara Shriftman with total ease, organized a perfect party for me, and followed all my wishes, a see through marquee, beautiful flowers from TIC TOC and Eric Butterbaugh. A Stage was built for Dita, and pink lights filled my house and marquee making it into a stunning night club.. The food was good too, shrimps delicately cooked in their own juices. 

Eileen Koch, Public Relations,  worked hard to manifest true glamour... 

I was happy to see my friends, Belinda Carlisle and her son Dukey, Zeta Graff, Yossi Mazandi and Tierney Gearon, amongst many others who have made me feel welcome in this town..

THE BOOK LAUNCH

EDEN PLACE

CLOAK AND DAGGER BUTTERFLY, LA BOOK SOUP

WHAT A WONDERFUL WIERD WORLD WE LIVE IN.. I arrived at Book Soup today and was surprised that I had a room full of photographers supporting me.. Probably the biggest compliment of  all. My Book was the inspiration from insomnia, hours of not knowing what to do. I didn't want to waste a second.

IF WE KNEW HOW LITTLE WE HAD LEFT, WE WOULD NEVER SLEEP

Book Soup was fun, light and happy..

EXPLORING, LOS ANGELES

BOOK SOUP, SUNSET BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES

BOOK SOUP, SUNSET BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES

MY BOOK CLOAK AND DAGGER BUTTERFLY

launch is at 3pm today....

I WANT TO LIVE  IN 

A WORLD WHERE THE

WOMEN LOOK AS  FRAGILE

AS POSSIBLE AND THE

MEN AS BRUTAL AS POSSIBLE

WISDOM IN THE MORNING

"MAKE ME FEEL

THERE IS A REASON

TO STAY SLIM

AND PUT ON LIPSTICK

GRAB ME

TELL ME I HAVE

TO BE WITH

YOU"

PINKY VALENTINE MYSTERY

I am going to take this time

apart to

get to know you

by closing my eyes

and creating the 

times we have

had together

You see before I hadn't 

really thought about

whether I liked you 

I was playing

as I usually do

or waiting 

for some part of me

to wake up

my brain floating

above my body

I hear you and try

to touch your hand

before I sleep

I want to jump off the

plane to be with you

even though

I knew you wouldn't be 

there

I didn't want to go

I wish we were free

to play

dare I think these

things

to hope

I want to be

better than I am

and have the courage

to try for this

and the guts to be alone.

I awoke assistant Alex, she had to get up and tell me everything about last night... The happy madness, a fantasy, a pink dream sequence.

THERE IS A NEW KIND OF PARIS AND ITS HER BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, I WANT TO BE YOU

There is no one like Paris Hilton on the planet... She is an inspiration for pure happiness, a fluffy candy floss child at a fair, a miracle amongst the dreary. Bold and courageous, daring, young, spirited, these over used adjectives apply to her.  I have just been to her party and now in pink, I am her biggest fan. 

Sitting in the pale green drawing room I met Scott Lazerson, who produced a bag of rice he as made for his charity, containing dried vegetables and soya for starving children in  third world school rooms, costing only 20p, it is a miracle worker. He asked me to come and meet Paris, and then he told me, he was doing a party on Oscar night at Mr Chows...

POP UP CLUBS THE NEW FASHION

CARSTEN HOLLERS and THE DOUBLE CLUB

A short lease club, The pop up club , is now the fashionable way to go.... They start with aplomb and finish quickly, like all very cool clubs they shouldn't last.  Fondazione Prada has opened together with  artist, Carsten Holler.  I felt very trendy tottering along the road to the club for the Gaggosian opening, last week. Furious that the cabbie left me on my own in the East End, screaming red in the face, I had arrived.Everything was black and I sat with Lucy Yeomans from Harpers... Young trendy crowd.

congolese dishes; and a western offering that focus

LOS ANGELES... POURING WITH RAIN

It's pouring with rain and cold, and luckily  Kay Saatchi, like a pretty humming bird, has just arrived with the new edition of Finch's Quarterly Review. It is so good when people use old formats with beautiful black and white photographs.  Charles Finch is a charming rather eccentric man, living in London,  famous for, among many things, giving A list parties.... Last week he was the talk of London for his pre-BAFTA party at Annabels, everybody wanted to go, sadly my ex-husband was asked, so I wasn't.  It is okay I can get over the social stigma, of being divorced.  Actually I am the one who is usually asked. Next week he  hopefully will impress us with his pre-academy awards party, in Los Angeles. Charles cleverly works with Chanel. Such a lucky man being married to the very pretty Sydney, and having  a beautiful curly haired daughter called Oona. Charles is the son of Peter Finch.  The paper has been started when most journalists are being laid off, and wants to believe that at this difficult time it is good to be a maverick, start something new, and yet very old fashioned. Michael Chow, Richard Dreyfuss, Al Ruddy, Emma Thompson, John Malkovich, Minnie Driver, have all been asked to write articles..Out of them all the only one I am following is the advice from Tim Jefferies, he knows how to get everywhere, in every circle.. Sadly I won't be going to Bryan Lourd's party, Tim is right, it is the best, because I am no longer going out with Dr Sebagh, who used to be asked, and he took me.

  

WORRY NOT MY LIPSTICK FRIEND LOVER

I don't want you

to think

I like

promiscuity

I don't

I only

need one 

man to lie

their head

beside mine

I am learning to 

deal with loneliness

because if I deal with

this I shall have no

fear if someone

needs another

pillow

on my bed now is

a computer

a handbag

my lipstick

a pen

I have slept

And now I write

in total freedom

So do not worry for

me my friend

BAFTA, MY NIGHT ON THE RED CARPET

I arrived in the pissing rain, with everybody screaming and trying to get photographs of anyone who walked up the red carpet.  The Opera House is seriously glamorous and makes the Oscars look down market.  It's a good bit of Architecture and makes the occasion bristle with drama. This year was the year to go, with Sharon Stone looking stunning in a red dress, definitely taking Benjamin's potion, and Mick Jagger, whose snaky hips look as good as Ivor Braka's, and whose wit was razor sharp - saying he had swapped smashing up hotel rooms for presenting prizes - making the whole event go swiftly.

I love the BAFTAs, even though they got it wrong. (The biggest star was my son Charles.) Slumdog - which deserves high praise in every area - had to win politically.  but I'm sad Benjamin didn't do better. I wish I was getting younger every day. What a fabulous way to go, being breast fed. (Come on Jean-Louis Sebagh, find a way for all of us to get younger.)

As for Revolutionary Road and The Reader, both disappointed me, partly because I hate fights

 with lover, and anything to do with Nazi Germany, having exhausted all angles as a child.

I wore a stunning dress By Victoria Beckham, It looked great but took three people to get me in, as I  am hardly the same shape as her and have no intention of dieting.  It was comfortable for one and half hours and then suddenly I had a desire to rip it off, letting all my fat breathe. So in between The Opera House and Grosvenor House I had to run home, have a bath and re-dress in a little Chantal Thomas number. I am so much happier in Burlesque gear....

THE BAFTAS

So Looking forward to this.. will SLUMDOG sweep the board, or is there a little room for BENJAMIN BUTTON

DR SEBAGH's hidden haven 25 WIMPOLE STREET, LONDON W1

THE SAATCHI GALLERY, KINGS ROAD, LONDON SW3

Mid morning I decided to take Betty Bui to meet Charles Saatchi, she wanted help with her Gallery in Paris and advice from this brilliant man. We arrived and went to his immaculate office in the basement of the the Gallery,on the Kings Road in Chelsea, white, huge and beautiful. Out of the blue Charles asked to try on my Chantal Thomas corset, laughing, I took it off and handed it to him, and within seconds he was able to get edges meeting, he has become very slender...then came the art... Betty nervously went through her artists, all were despatched to the trash... then his lecture began. Charles was sweet, he spent a good thirty minutes helping my friend, showing her how to get success, suggesting that she should take on some  new Germans and Americans new .. I was asked then  to help them with their education programme.. I will. 

Charles is always ahead of the game, with his new exhibition depicting the war mongering Middle East.  We in the West are troubled daily with images of blown out cars, mass destruction, burkhas and bullets.  So much bombardment, and we become confused what side we are on... Here in this quiet Gallery on a snowy afternoon, my senses awaken, to the cultural side of the Middle East. A lot is going on.  Only here can you put so many conflicting ideas and countries together, this time in peace.  He doesn't give a damn about the concerns of everyday politicans, thank goodness for that. My favourite piece was by Kader Attia, A piece called Ghost 2007.  Last year my friend Enricco Navarro did a huge tomb stone of a book to celebrate the artists there. 

Afterwards I went to see my old boyfriend, Dr  Jean-Louis Sebagh, the famous face guru.  He has his offices in Wigmore Street. I sneak in, because otherwise, I , like everyone else,  can be kept waiting for three hours. I caught him having breakfast in his kitchen..rice cakes. He loves showing me how thin he has become, his six pack is revealed.  I need to go just to check my dodgy age isn't beginning to show on my face, of course it is, but at least, after five minutes, I leave feeling that I am once again restored to eternal youth.

JOSEPHINE HART. The Truth about love

LITTLE BLACK BOX GALLERY,13a PARK WALK, LONDON SW10

My gallery opening was fun, with friends of Tamara Beckwith's adding a bit of glamour... The photographs all looked great and were carefully chosen, fabulous blue lips,good printing, with beautiful framing . The gallery was opened recently by Tamara and Lindsey Carlos-Clarke, wife of Bob, who sadly killed himself.  Bob was a photographer and an incredible printer. 

TRUTH ABOUT LOVE

Afterwards, I went to Josephine Hart's book launch, which was full of worthy intellectual, politicians, spin doctors, Alan Yentob - he looked good, and brown - plus loads of ex-newspaper editors, except for Geordie Greig, that is.  Geordie now has a paper of his own to edit, as he should. Tatler will be losing me to the Evening Standard, as I am his biggest fan. He's funny, witty and likes Trolloppe. This  makes Geordie  even more exciting to sit next to.  I coudn't wait to rush home and read Josephine's book.  My favourite so far has been Damage, later made into a film by Louis Malle. I used to highlight her best lines in green.  This book like The Reader seriously touched me.  Josephine has wonderful energy and has evenings at The London Library devoted to Poetry, which are open to the public.

THE READER.

I read this book about 8 years ago when I was having a midlife crisis, and it so moved me that when I spoke about it I used to burst into tears... The problem is: was it the midlife crisis, or the story? Anyway it touched a nerve.. and so I went nervously to see the film... I had even wanted to do the film, nagging to try and buy the rights, but with no real energy... The story as I remember it was slightly different, more intimate, more compact, and compassionate.  Of course if you haven't read the book, you may enjoy it more.. Did I cry because the film moved me, or did I cry because, of the memories I had at the time? Kate Winslet is wonderful, but if you had seen her in Revolutionary Road, you would think: can't she accept something more cheerful? Which  film is she better in?  The latter  probably... Still, go see it with an open mind - but without reading it first... 

I WANT TO LIVE MY TRUTH

WHATEVER IT IS

MAKE MY OWN MISTAKES

AND TRY TO HURT AS FEW

PEOPLE IN THE PROCESS

AS POSSIBLE

THE KISS  is opening with two of my photographs tomorrow night

THE LITTLE BLACK GALLERY tomorrow night

13a Palk Walk,

LONDON SW10

Tamara Beckwith and Lindsey Carlos-Clarkes's Gallery

FRANS JACOUBET +447766708475

Darling Frans was the only to turn up for work, it was essential to do my Astrological chart, even in the snow.  Find it so cosy to hear about my love life over and over again.. Frans does Black Moon Astrology...Luckily she told me it is going to be my perfect year... so let us hope that in amongst the economic doom and gloom, rays of strong  light will appear. 

Snowden my wonderful Hairdresser, too turned up, now looking perfect I am listening ...+447767864686...

John Osborne's House in Chester Square

I love Architects and Architecture... John Osborne, had a house in Chester Square done by Sir Hugh Casson in about 1960 He was  just married to Penelope Gilliatt.. It was said to have been so expensive that it nearly  made him bankrupt.  John was writing plays for the Royal Court Theatre at the time, among them, Look Back in Anger and Luther.

Whether this is true or not there was nothing boring about the house, when I moved in nearly twenty years ago... I did it up with huge aid from my ex husband Johan Eliasch, who was a complete star... It was a massive project and took two years of our life to complete.I thought I was going to collapse, at the time I was studying at drama school, having a baby. Nobody really liked the house with its chain metal lights hanging in swags in the dining room,  the avery at the back, or the cork walls and purple carpet in my bedroom... however, I did.. Needing a lot of love and attention, I kept its craziness, and made it mine.. 

My brains are washed

my head throbbing

spinning what is happening

I look for a chance to

escape

The telephone rings

but I ignore it and

take a  moment

for myself

The blizzard continues

I run in the snow catching

fluffy snow flakes with my

tongue  watching it melt in  my hair

I become a child of ten years

old

LE DUC, 243 BLVD RASPAIL, 75014 PARIS 0143209630

Well the good thing is I have just been told that my love life is very amusing,  I agree it makes me smile all the time......

Went out for dinner last night... Le Duc, in Paris has a feeling of  Wheelers... a fish restaurant, with mouth watering sea food delights...full of the chic chic...

Returned to London to huge snow flakes, fluffy pretty balls.....gave me pink cheeks..all is a scream...