Just in time for Valentine’s Day...  Brit success story, luxe lingerie label Dirty Pretty Things is three this year and to celebrate, Selfridges is hosting a pop-up shop showcasing the DPT SS12 collection AND a limited edition collaboration with rock ‘n’ roll jeweller Stephen Webster which sees the Envy pendant from the latter's Seven Deadly Sins collection reworked into a customised bejewelled bra of sahara crystal pavé giving a cheeky Dirty Pretty Wink to all comers. The original prototype (on display in the store for the duration of the pop-up) was actually made in Stephen’s workshop – “the process was quite hands on” he laughed. Webster is soon jetting off to his LA store which is staging a pop-up of its own – an exhibition of photographs of Elizabeth Taylor (his very first celebrity client no less!) by British photographer Richard Young to coincide with The Oscars while DPT designers, Dee Murren and Claire Merry are busy working on a diffusion line, Flirty Pretty Things in a collaboration with an uber-cool high street brand.

Pop-up runs through 11 March 2012

www.selfridges.com

Image: Stephen Webster for DPS bra, £150

There are a multitude of all-day hang-outs to enjoy in London town. But do we have room for one more?

Well, the all-new Babble City – which launches today at lunchtime - is such a venue .. and like it or not, will be hitting the Capital with a bang.

Spread over three floors and three large rooms, Babble City is the new City-based bar and club – on the old site of The Wall - that everyone is talking about.

Downstairs, visitors are greeted by the glittery and candlelit Crystal Bar (designated for quiet lunchtimes), which immediately leads onto the first floor’s Crimson Bar (above) via the back staircase, a mood-lit room which centres itself around a dance floor powered by a high octane DJ and his sets.

The Boudoir, Babble City's last wonder, is situated on the top floor Here, the theme relies heavily on ‘burlesque influences and secluded booths’, making this the perfect entertaining space which offers intimacy, as well as exuding a similar party spirit found on the floor below.  

To get things in full swing, Babble City will be hosting its very own celebrity launch party on Friday 24^th February,. If you're interested in attending that, email info@babble-city.co.uk to reserve your space. 

If not, head down for lunch today and London's new hang out. Space for one more? Of course! 

http://www.babble-city.co.uk/

Yes with the Globes on Sunday and then the Oscars but a red carpet ride away, the awards season is well and truly upon us.  So it’s time to reflect on the golden days of Hollywood. Harry Handelsman of Manhattan Loft Corporation has got into the spirit of things and he and partner Thang Vo-Ta have launched a new art project called St Pancras Editions with a limited run on a silkscreen print of the iconic Jean Harlow by 60’s pop artist, the late Gerald Laing. Catch the original on show at The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel – in pride of place between two marble pillars at the entrance to the Chambers Club - and then if you’re feeling inspired (and flush) you can snap up one of just 200 editions starting at £2500. Sadie Frost and Grace Woodward have already done the honours and to put it bluntly, as Laing passed away just last year, these puppies are sure to rise in value rather faster than your dvd collection. Ever an eye for a bargain, Handelsman has also joined forces with Chateau Marmont owner Andre Balazs on a boutique hotel to open later this year in a derelict Marylebone fire station set to be one hot party property.

www.stpancraseditions.com

It’s all about the music right now at St Martin’s Lane hotel with The Front Room’s new pop-up exhibition, Love Buzz, from London photographer Bella Howard. Presented as collage, it’s a vibrant mash-up of the fanzines she started making in her teens interspersed with candid yet stylised shots from popstars to models being effortlessly beautiful at an ultra-hip line-up of parties, festivals and road trips – Corinne Day in glorious technicolour. And ‘that’ NME cover of Marmite pop sensation Lana del Rey – yup that was a Bella special too – believe it or not, originally shot for a style page in GQ! But although her passion lies in music, the fashion world may have something to say about that as she’s shot both March and April ‘More Dash than Cash’ features for UK Vogue and is off to Ibiza today to shoot the campaign for Swarovski’s new cool kid diffusion line Lola & Grace - “I can’t wait to get some sun.” There’s also talk of working with Antipodium during LFW – she’s already wearing the clothes after all – but if past form is anything to go by, we guarantee the result will be way more rock ‘n’ roll than your average calwalk shots.

Through 18 February

www.stmartinslane.com

Not content with a restaurant, café, cookshop, wine cellar and boutique fashion house, King's Road favourite, Bluebird Chelsea  has just started doing Afternoon Tea in its main bar. We’re talking all the traditional trimmings including fresh fruit scones with clotted cream and jam, an assortment of finger sandwiches with fillings of egg mayonnaise and cress, smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese plus a delicious array of  fresh cakes created by new Pastry Chef, Pascal Vandeputte (The Wolseley, Bob Bob Ricard, and The Ritz) who joined the gang at the end of last year.

From £18.50pp or £25.50 with a restorative glass of fizz

www.bluebird-restaurant.co.uk

The Mayfair showroom of luxury car dealer H.R. Owen will be transformed this week into a pop up nightclub in association with Boujis to celebrate the European launch of the new Bentley Continental GT V8.

Signature cocktails will be showcased by the boujis brand, including a bespoke ‘BB’ cocktail blended with elit™ by Stolichnaya® vodka for the 300 elite guests to enjoy.

The showroom windows will be blacked out and space transformed to build guests’ and celebrities’ anticipation of the Bentley reveal, with a club downstairs to continue the festivities. Boujis resident DJ ‘Klaus’ will also be mixing tracks to the acoustic sounds of the new V8 engine.

www.boujis.com
www.hrowen.co.uk

Living in London presents a plethora of possibility. And as the Samuel Johnson saying goes ‘when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life’.

True, there is much to be made of this Sovereign City but it should not be forgotten that absence makes the heart grow fonder and there are some experiences that even the lively Londoner cannot conjure.

A familiar frustration on a Londoner’s lips is ‘The Weather’. Take today for example. BBC weather measures a temperature of 0’C, with an overall outlook of ‘Cloudy’. Lack of vitamin D, natural environment and crowded and congested streets can take their toll on even the happiest city slicker.

If this sounds like you, then here comes the ‘obvious’. Time to get out. Fill that half empty glass to the full and get back what’s been missing.

Sanctuary Retreats’ is a name synonymous with providing lashings of luxury in sun drenched, exciting locations. But it’s their new luxury catamaran cruise ship that has caught my attention.

Far away from the hustle and bustle, a destination described as having ‘good weather all year round’ exists. The Galapagos Islands are like atolls of adventure, offering all that London lacks. Home of Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’, it is here that Sanctuary’s ship ‘M.C. Athala II’ sails. The boutique ship sleeps sixteen, has nine staff and one cruise director. Decked out with an open - air bar, al fresco dining area and sundeck with Jacuzzi – the credentials leave no question of where the party’s at.

The Athala offers two seven night itineraries designed to explore the best of the
Galapagos Islands, with five night options available for both. Itineraries comprise of archipelago’s most sought after sites, anchoring at two places each day to allow plenty of time to explore with experienced naturalist guides.

To summarise: If you’re feeling like a limp Londoner – Sanctuary suggests a place that offers traffic free fun, sun and abundant natural wonder. Not a bad bet.

www.sanctuaryretreats.com
 

Fortnum & Mason is flexing its Royal Warrant muscles and celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by decorating that famous Piccadilly facade from the pavement up. The tradition has its roots back in 1836 when the building was illuminated in stars made from lit jets of gas to celebrate the wedding of the future Edward VII. And we’re assured that the 2012 effort, when revealed on Monday 6 February, will be similarly spectacular but without causing a health and safety situation. Inspired by the 10 heraldic creatures of the Queen’s Coronation taken from ancestral coats of arms, a menagerie of brightly coloured 3D lions, unicorns, dragons, griffins and falcons will dance through the windows and the atrium playing musical instruments while a giant steel musical stave is suspended from the façade and enormous ribbons weave in and out of the building.

www.fortnumandmason.com

Image: artist's impression of the new Fortnum's facade

We’re ahead of the curve... what can we say. We hit Tulum in 2009 thank you very much. Way before Terry Richardson et al gave it the trademark thumbs up ( www.cabanascopal.com/ as it goes). But yes, we too are hungry for Serge Becker’s Esquina to hit Moor Street later this year so stay tuned...  Meanwhile we’re rather partial to the healthy burritos served at Poncho 8. We’ve happily bid adieu to January detox but we’re talking maintenance people so check out the Slo Carb Box produced in collaboration with the personal trainers at The Foundry or get the skinny on the Skinny Box – a burrito that swaps salad for the tortilla (an extra 200 calories that it takes half an hour to shift on the treadmill.) No refried beans either just plenty of guac(amole) and packed full of protein and fibre guaranteed to spike your interest rather than your blood sugar.

Branches in Soho, St Paul’s and Spitalfields.

www.poncho8.com