sophie loves

art | words | music | mood

vintage | love

Check out Dawn’s exquisite antique and vintage pieces on her instagram - my house is full of them !

art | as inspiration

must | watch

Lehman brothers, the sweeping story of a family spanning generations and a company that changed the world in 1844. A young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside dreaming of a new life in the new world and joined by his two brothers. 163 years later, the firm they establish - Lehman Brothers - spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, triggering the largest financial crisis in history. 

florence welch | muse

Florence & The Machine joined Jules Buckley and his Orchestra at the BBC Proms, for a celebration of her award winning debut album, Lungs

An unforgettable and magical performance

art | moons

ida | rentoul outhwaite

The moon is frequently used by artists as an aesthetic symbol to suggest mood, mystery, energy and cyclical change. The natural light of the moon often represents a quiet sense of enlightenment and renewal, a symbol of the ebb and flow of life.

autumn | flowers

I found this place in Somerset. Jo makes the most incredible dry flower arrangements, including bespoke head garlands - obsessed!

maginel | wright enright

musing | on

70s Cher

No one gives midriff, lashes and long locks like her…and she was the master of layering jewellery for maximum boho…

Diva|diaries

Barbra by Barbra Streisand

musing | on

Julie Christie

on | repeat

Ian Brown just turned 61.  How?

A God amongst men and one of my favourite albums

The Stones Roses

dragons | den

perfect | packages

words to | live by

‘Whatever you’re meant to be, do it now. The conditions are always impossible’

Doris Lessing

must | visit

celebrating | virginia

waterhouse | sketches

words to | live by

‘The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us’

Gloria Steinem

on | repeat

Talk Talk - ‘The Colour of Spring’

patti | forever

‘In my way of thinking, anything is possible. Life is at the bottom of things and belief at the top, while the creative impulse, dwelling in the centre, informs all’

Patti Smith

musing | on

romantic | spring

There is no time like Spring, When life’s alive in everything, Before new nestlings sing, Before cleft swallows speed their journey back Along the trackless track - God guides their wing, He spreads their table that they nothing lack, - Before the daisy grows a common flower Before the sun has power To scorch the world up in his noontide hour…

Spring, Christina Rossetti

words | to live by

‘You’ve got to invest in the world, you’ve got to read, you’ve got to go to art galleries, you’ve got to find out the names of plants. You’ve got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We’re amazing people’

Vivienne Westwood

ver | sacrum

alphonse | mucha

fairy | magic

must | watch

piece I wish | I owned

words | to live by

Tilda Swinton 

"I am a great friend of chaos. It’s all we have. I mean, this whole concept of being able to manage life…life is risk, life is chance, life is being open to chance. The best things in my life, and probably in anybody’s life, come out of being open to being blown off course.”

on | repeat

‘King’ - Florence & The Machine

But a woman is a changeling, always shifting shape
Just when you think you have it figured out
Something new begins to take

musing | on

Jerry Hall

musing | on

Sharon Tate

wish | I owned

Alphonse Mucha

La Nature 1900

musing | on

White Witch Tilda

Platinum dreads with an icicle crown…

Pet polar bears…

Tons of Turkish Delight…

= Dream Friend…

sun | worshipper

Why I Wake Early - Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of even the
miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.

word | to the | wise

Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape

Bell Hooks

vishnu | the pervader

golden | illustration

words | to live by

Pablo Neruda

"Someday, somewhere — anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life."

poem | we love

musing | on

Twiggy in Biba

Mixing 60’s and 70’s flare with Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the golden age of Hollywood, Biba was all about the richly luxuriant colours of a bygone time.  Hooray for that!

inspiring | minds

Maya Angelou

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”

turn | it up

Sergei Rachmaninov – Brief Encounter

favourite picture | right now

musing | on |  anna may

anthem | & muse

Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over

And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had and what was left after that too, oh
Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back
Struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
'Cause here they come

kimono | obsession

sarah | bernhardt

favourite picture | right now

on | repeat

I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?

Buffalo Springfield - For what its worth

ophelia | in art

deco | dreams

on | repeat

Blackbird by The Beatles

McCartney explained that “blackbird” should be interpreted as “black girl” in the context of the civil rights troubles in US in 60’s…

lyrical | love

I never felt magic crazy as this I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea I never held emotion in the palm of my hand Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree But now you’re here Brighten up my northern sky

Nick Drake – Northern Sky

pearls | of wisdom

“Let’s not forget that in India the symbol of strength is a woman; the Goddess Shakti”

Indira Ghandi

farewell | to summer

In the grey summer garden I shall find you with day-break and the morning hills behind you

There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings; and down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings

Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep

And I shall know the sense of life re-born from dreams into the mystery of morn where gloom and brightness meet

And standing there till that calm song is done, at last we'll share the league-spread, quiring symphonies that are joy in the world, and peace, and dawn’s one star

Idyll by Siegried Sasson

musing | on | evelyn

favourite picture | right now

peacocks | in art

on | repeat

neil young, harvest moon

art | therapy

magic | mushrooms

hilma | af klint

Incredible documentary about unsung hero of Modern Art, Hilma Af Klint.  Mind. Blown.

“You must learn to ignore your fear, for without the will
to believe in yourself, nothing good will happen”

tilda swinton | tim walker

goosebump | truth

“I’m a believer in the power of knowledge and the ferocity of beauty.

So from my point of view, your life is already artful…

Waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art”

Toni Morrison

musing | on

“Perfection is overrated, boring.  It’s the imperfections, the vulnerabilities, the weaknesses…that make us real, beautiful, necessary”

Helena Bonham Carter

basquiat | warrior

‘It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not’

symbolic | bliss

on | repeat

london grammar’s ‘strong’ from their beautiful album If You Wait

go | see

v&a reopened - ‘bags: inside out’ now until sunday 16 jan

on repeat | van morrison

into the mystic ‘And I wanna rock your gypsy soul. Just like way back in the days of old…’

classic | movie | hero 

favourite | lyrics 

music | heroes

nick cave’s cover of ‘cosmic dancer’ from the brilliant marc bolan tribute album.

favourite | artist

art | I wish I owned

favourite painting | right now

painting | I wish I owned

must | see

Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, showing his most spectacular paintings in the once-in-a-century exhibition at the national gallery until 19 January

art | I wish I owned

words | we love

“We are like books. Most people only see our cover, the minority read only the introduction, many people believe the critics”

Emile Zola

snuff | is enough

walter | crane

words | we love

“Motherhood really puts you in your place because it really forces you to address the issues that you claim to believe in. 

And if you can’t stand up to those principles when you’re raising a child – forget it!”

Diane Keaton

pin up | perfection

painting I wish | I owned

art | I love

jude | wisdom

louis | welden hawkins

painting I wish | I owned

ziegfeld | follies

autumn | vibes

pierrot | perfection

deco | dreams

painting I wish | I owned

painting I wish | I owned

musing | on

Adele Bloch Bauer

favourite picture | right now

titania | inspiration

abstract | icon

favourite picture | right now

insta | inspiration

favourite picture | right now

neo-classical | gorgeousness

mccurry | love

“It’s important for you to spend your time photographing things that matter to you. You need to understand the things that have meaning to you, and not what others think is important to you”

favourite painting | right now

vittorio | zecchin

ivan | bilibin

mother of | modern dance

favourite painting | right now

favourite picture | right now

musing | on

toilette | tresses

portrait | perfection

mystical | beauties

favourite pictures | right now

dulac | dreaming

photography | hero

sun | in art

patti | musings

“For life is the best thing we have in this existence.  And if we should desire to believe in something, it should be a beacon within.  This beacon being the sun, sea, and sky, our children, our work, our companions and, most simply put, the embodiment of love”

favourite picture | right now

words | of wisdom

A completely brilliant ‘must read’ from one of my favourite authors

“Curiosity takes ignorance seriously, and is confident enough to admit when it does not know. It is aware of not knowing, and it sets out to do something about it”

Alain de Botton

balletic | bliss

first | close-ups

favourite picture | right now

musing | on

I’ve never thought of my jewelry as trophies.  I’m here to take care of it and to love it; for we are only temporary custodians of beauty…

Elizabeth Taylor

dusty | books

artist |  & the asylym

paul poiret | fashion as art

aubrey | beardsley

woodland creatures | john bauer

morris | rossetti | muse

joni | carey

handcarved | symbolism

art | symbols | treasury

bertha lum | tokyo dreams

dusty | books

kay nielson | danish illustration

billy wilder | a golden age of Hollywood | costumes | leading ladies

fashion | art | romance

Emily Floge the muse and love of Gustav Klimt. Inspiring a movement.

ancient gold | jewellery for the ages

flowers | stars | moons

Born in a small town in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic), alphonse mucha became synonymous with Art Nouveau

maya angelou (1928 – 2014)

A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will
without pretence

And arrives
At her destination prepared to be herself and only herself.....

vintage | embroidery

arts & crafts embroidery by one of the heroes of the Glasgow Movement, ann macbeth (1875-1948)

light | dark | florence

muse of muses

words | to live by

“One of the benefits of being a mature well-educated woman is that you’re not afraid of expletives. And you have no fear to put a fool in his place”

Dame Judi Dench

grasmere | gingerbread

Invented in 1854 by humble Victorian cook Sarah Nelson, Grasmere Gingerbread in the English Lake District village from where it gets its name.

The most delicious gingerbread ever available in the beautiful village of Grasmere or online !

must | read

Working with myth, fairytales and folklore, Blackie highlights how these traditions can help us live an authentic happier life…

must | see

Incredible exhibition at the V&A celebrating the extraordinary artistic output and internationalist culture of the Golden Age of the Mughal Court (about 1560 – 1660) during the reigns of its most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. 

Showing until 5th May 2025

vintage | love

Check out Gail’s exquisite antique clothing at Portobello market and on instagram

must | watch

Utterly beautiful film based on the bestselling book by Isabella Tree

A loving tribute to nature and a lesson in how we can all improve the chances for wildlife on our planet

nick drake | tribute

For his tribute prom, 50 years on from his death, Jules Buckley brings together a selection of artists to join the BBC Symphony Orchestra celebrating one of the great poets of the folk-rock movement.

must | see

Photography exhibition from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish collection at V&A South Kensington until 5 June 2025

obsessing | over

Winged feet

Hermes was the great messenger of the gods on Greek mythology. He famously wore winged sandals so he could fly between the heavens, the earth and the underworld… new design coming

must | see

Yoko Ono at the Tate Modern until September 1st 2024

a favourite | book

Angela Carter: Nights At The Circus

“We must all make do with the rags of love we find flapping on the scarecrow of humanity”

words | to live by

“The world is sick, and yes it can be cruel, but it would be a whole lot crueller if it were not for painters and filmmakers and songwriters, the beauty-makers, wading through the blood and muck of things, whilst reaching skyward to draw down the very heavens themselves”

Nick Cave

must | see

Motive & The Cue

Directed by Sam Mendes and written by Jack Thorne revolving around the themes of acting, theatre and Shakespeare. 

Sublime performances which I didn’t want to end…

RIP | Melanie

“Little bit of me”

words | I love

‘we are so lightly here. It is in love that we are made. In love we disappear’

Leonard Cohen

on | repeat

Julie Byrne - ‘The Greater Wings’

words | I love

‘I was born with an enormous need for affection and a terrible need to give it’

Audrey Hepburn

scent | obsession

Jasmine by Santa Maria Novella

book | I loved

Deceived with Kindness - Angelica Garnett

words | wisdom

‘Wild women are an unexplainable spark of life. They ooze freedom and seek awareness, they belong to nobody but themselves yet give a piece of who they are to everyone they meet.

If you have met one, hold on to her, she’ll allow you into her chaos, but she’ll also show you her magic’

Nikki Rowe - Once a Girl, Now a Woman

inspiring | minds

‘I have to constantly re-identify myself to myself, reactive my own standards, my own convictions about what I’m doing and why’

Nina Simone

on | repeat

Lamb - ‘Gorecki’

words | to live by

‘The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it - basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.’

Charles Bukowski

monstrance | musing

Mikael | Hallstrøm Eriksen

on | repeat

Rufus Wainright - ‘Across The Universe’

making | magic

words | to live by

‘Life is the leaves which shape and nourish a plant, but art is the flower which embodies its meaning’

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

on | repeat

Zero 7 - ‘Destiny’

play | perfection

Being heralded the best play of the last 100 years. Jez Butterworth’s ‘Jerusalem’ is back at the Apollo.

Quite simply, everyone must go and see this play..

words | to live by

Anais Nin

“I could not live in any of the worlds that offered to me… I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breath, reign, and recreate myself”

garcia | marquez

Gabriel García Márquez

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves".”

brilliant | book

Another Country - James Baldwin

“not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.”

turn it | up

Nick Mulvey – Fever to the Form

'Cause the very thing you're afraid, afraid of
It keeps you clean but unclear
Clean but unclear

Is the dirt that you're made, you're made of
And thats nothing to fear
No, its nothing my dear’

david | bowie

“I suspect that dreams are an integral part of existence with far more use for us than we’ve made of them.  The fine line between the dream state and reality is at times, for me, quite grey”

pretty words | pictures

‘Love is Enough’ - Andrea Zanatelli

In this truly beautiful book, Andrea Zanatelli combines his extraordinary artworks with a selection of classical love poetry by Anne Bronte, William Blake, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, Percy Shelley and many more.

movie | miracle

The Beatles: Get Back

A three part 2021  documentary directed and produced Peter Jackson covering the making of the bands 1970 album Let It Be and drawing largely from unused footage and audio material.

Jackson wrote in a press statement that he was "relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth ... Sure, there's moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with."

If you LOVE the Beatles this is a dream….

words | to live by

Eckart Tolle

“Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.  Make it your friend and ally; not your enemy”

words | to live by

“The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves”

on | repeat

Dream a Little Dream of Me - Mama Cass

Say nighty night and kiss me,

just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me

turn | it up

Pure Shores - All Saints

I've crossed deserts for miles 
Swam water for time 
Searching places to find 
A piece of something to call mine

been | reading

Johnathan Franzen -Crossroads

Crossroads, Franzen’s sixth novel, is a family saga set during the 1970s and centres on the Hildebrandt family in the fictional small town of New Prospect, Illinois

Franzen unravels the intricacies of family life and the secrets we keep from each other… profound, warm and funny

turn | it up | & listen

Sade - By Your Side

on | repeat

Benjamin Clementine – Nemesis

“Nemesis is the Mother of Karma”

favourite | writers

Primo | Levi

“man is a centaur, a tangle of flesh and mind, divine inspiration and dust”

words | to live by

“Until you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being great”

Cher

music | documentary

Muscle Shoals

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama has helped create some of the most important and resonant songs of all time. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Rick Hall brought black and white together to create music for the generations. Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, The Rolling Stones & Alicia Keys to name but a few…

on | repeat

Massive Attack - Teardrop

watch | & weep

Brief Encounter – David Lean (1945)

Train platform, married doctor , suburban housewife, swirling fog and swooning Rachmaninoff score.  This might just be the most romantic film of all time…have a hanky Dora Philippine Kallmus

such | a lovely | read

Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns

A beautifully detailed account of when some of the finest music (and fashion) was filtering through the Golden State in the 60’s and 70’s .  Peace and love vs squalor and commerce...

must | watch

on | repeat

Carole King – Its Too Late

must | watch

Becoming who I was

divine | feet

turn | it up

Only Livin Boy In New York – Simon & Garfunkel

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where
And we don't know where

words | to live by

maya angelou

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style”

watch | miles davis

our anthem | right now

Beth Orton- Central Reservation

Today is whatever I want it to mean…

If this is where memories are made,
Dreams do come true
And everything I ever took for granted,
I wanna see it through
I step through every shade
Of the color you bring
Cos this time, this time, this time
It’s fine just as it is….

Today is whatever I want it to mean

brilliant | read

A beautiful, lyrical story exploring the nature of addiction and the colliding worlds of religion and science

watch | listen

Agnes Obel - Fuel to Fire

on | repeat

When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair.
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find 
In the windmills of your mind

Dusty Springfield - Windmills of My Mind

beautiful | book

Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns. This moment is the absent mother’s

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

watching | nina

navranta | nine planets

watching | sophie

mirror | in the sky

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too

Landslide by Goddess Stevie Nicks

words | to live by

The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.” 
― james baldwin

joni mitchell | birthday | lyrics

classic | movie | heroine

all about eve

Probably one of my top three favourite movies.  Bette Davis at her absolute diva BEST….and one of Marilyn’s first ever (tiny) film roles.

“Fasten your seatbelts…it’s going to be a bumpy night…”

coral clasps | amber studs

the passionate shepherd to his love

biography | bliss

ammonite | lovers

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan are staggeringly good in this intense and weather-beaten romance, all set against the sludgy greys of the Jurassic Coast.  Fossils, Bodices, Passion … gorgeous…

virginia | woolf

‘what is nobler’ she mused, turning over the photographs, ‘than to be a woman to whom every one turns, in sorrow or difficulty?’

Night & Day (1919)

worship | wherever

musing | on | galliano

jewelled hair…. feathers and tulle…. skeins of gold… sprinkles of stardust …

owl | affair

film | magic

heart-melting performances in this touching portrait of a Korean Family struggling to find their own version of The American Dream. Pure magic…

musing | on | lily

wild tresses orange velvet, scrunched silk, rosy cheeks. stars & moons

…tick

artists | lives

full volume | kate bush

cloud busting ‘But every time it rains You're here in my head Like the sun coming out...’

women | fairies | love

violet nicholson (1865-1904) was an English poet who wrote under the pseudonym Laurence Hope. 

w.b. yeats (1865 – 1939)

Come Fairies, take me out Of this dull world, for I Would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!

on | repeat

mazzy star’s ‘into dust’ from their beautiful ethereal album

madonna | moodboarding hard