Betty

Urban Outfitters Boutique: Something Else

2012-01-31T00:01:00.000Z

Whilst we were researching (read, shopping) this weekend, we popped into Urban Outfitters. Urban is fast becoming Betty's go to shop when we have an occasion or need something special, the store in the East (the newest in London) is perfectly located just off Brick Lane and has everything laid out over one floor. Although Urban Outfitters has been on our radar for many years, we don't remember a time when it was THIS good, the mix of brands and designer ranges in there at the moment seems to be beating right to our fashion pulse.

One range we stumbled into (quite literally, we have a bruise to prove it) is Australian brand 'Something Else.' Set up by Natalie Wood in 2004, the brand name suggests it's just that, offering beautiful fabrication and prints in wearable yet directional shapes. The brand is for those who in Natalie's words 'not only appreciate fashion; but also art, music and popular culture'. The SS12 collection is entitled 'Castways' and there isn't a piece that we can't see one of the team wearing, our favourite piece has to be the chambray denim polka dot trousers, which are the perfect transitional piece to go from Winter to Spring.

Which is your favourite piece from the collection above? Something Else is available to buy from Urban Outfitters stores and online here.

Betty

All images are from Urban Outfitters.

Inspiring Monday's: Behind The Scenes at Biba

2012-01-30T00:02:00.000Z

AtBetty we have always had a little bit of an obsession with the iconic brand Biba, founded as a mail order business by Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Fitz Simon in 1964, Biba soon expanded into bricks and mortar, and pioneered a new style. Biba mixed the contemporary with Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the golden age of Hollywood, and was part of a revoloution that started to shape the high street as we know today.

When we wereputting issue two together, we came across the lovely Jude and Wendy who worked in the iconic Biba store in the 70s. We ended up talking to Wendy aboutTwiggy, Mick Jagger and the story behind the stunning coat that is featured inthe photos below, which were taken by here husband Tony.

How did youcome to start working at Biba?

Ianswered an ad in the paper, I hadn’t worked in retail before. I had arrived inLondon from Australia a few months before with my husband and after months ofjust having fun and living off our savings, I needed a job. It was suggested bymy brother-in-law who worked in fashion in Australia, I ended up working therefor just over a year.

What is yourfondest memory of working at Biba?

Theinspirational Barbara Hulanicki walking through the store daily, she wouldalways say hello.

Did you knowat the time you were part of something special and iconic?

Yes,I knew about Biba from 19 and Honey magazines, which were available inAustralia, however they were always 6 weeks behind as were shipped by sea backthen. When I worked there customers from all over the world came in to theshop, also many famous celebrities, always causing much excitement with thestaff. Some days you’d be servingTwiggy or Cher would be buying tights, sometimes the guys from Queen would popin to see Mary on reception, Mick & Bianca Jagger would try & slip byunnoticed into the lifts up to the Rooftop Terrace restaurant for lunch.

What was theBiba ethos for you and what was it like to work there?

TheBiba ethos was to make affordable glamorous fashion for the young working girlsof Britain. Can you imagine this didn’t exist before? There were other fabulousdesigners but their clothing was unaffordable for most. Barbara changed allthat.

Workingthere was fun, it was always exciting to see the new season’s designs andcolours which were so amazingly coordinated throughout the whole store. I mademany friends and one of my closest friends today is Jude Gosselin - we’re bothare still so inspired by Barbara & Fitz’s creations.

The clothes,of course, were the main focus of Biba, what were the items and outfits thatstand out in your mind?

Biba stood for glamorousclothing, which was inexpensive, well cut and designed with fabulous fabrics. There was always amazingaccessories and underwear dyed to match each seasons range of colours. 1950’sstyle swing back coats in leopard print, fitted jackets, tight long sleevedt-shirts, 30’s, 40’s & 50’s style dresses and pants were all given the Bibatouch.

Do you stillhave any Biba items?

Ihave a couple of dresses & a few little items. A few years ago when theBiba revival was in full swing I decided to sell most pieces. Firstly Iphotographed all the clothing, a friend’s daughter modelled as they no longerfitted me. Then I contacted the National Gallery of Victoria here in Melbourneand the Curators of Fashion decided to buy my coat (the one in the photographabove) for their collection. Youcan’t quite see from the photo but it is a 1950’s full length swing-back coat,with one large square button a the neck, flared sleeves with turned up cuffs,the fabric was a thick cotton sort of fur which was dyed in muted multicolours. It was just incredible, Ialways felt so glamourous in it. All the other items I sold on Ebay, mostly toyoung women in England and I had lovely rapport with them all.

For anyone who wants to delve further into the magical world of Barbara Hulanicki, we would recommend The Biba Experience book, by Alwyn W Turner which is filled with images of the iconic store and even features one of Wendy and Tony's beautiful images.

We hope you like Wendy's tales as much as we did, oh to have a time machine and step back in time - what era would you love to re-visit?

Betty

*1st image from google, and all the other images are property of Wendy and Tony Faehse

Betty's One's To Watch - TV & Film

2012-01-25T00:09:00.000Z

It's cold and rainy outside - the perfect British Winter you might say. As much as we are trying to keep motivated and make the most of our time spent inside, some days we just want to curl up, do nothing and watch a film. Recently we have done just that, and so we thought we would share with you films that have put a smile on our face and warmed us up.

The Artist

If you haven't seen it, get your gloves, your coat on and go to the cinema! We cannot recommend this film enough, a modern silent film set in the decadent 1920s is a perfect way to distract you from the weather outside. It documents the life and times of fictitious silent movie star George Valentin and the rise of the his co-star and love interest Peppy Miller. The 'talkies' (talking films as we now know them) are just about to make it big in the world of cinema and Valentin and his beloved dog Uggie are struggling in a new modern film era. The dog Uggie, is just as good as you've heard he is, and the costumes are worth a watch alone. The Betty team give this a full thumbs up.

The Muppets

We were lucky enough to attend a preview of the new Muppets film last Friday at The Soho Hotel. As avid fans of the Muppets since The Muppet Show was aired way back when, we couldn't wait to see what 12 years had done to our favourite childhood friends. A film so cheesy, it makes a parody of itself, with guest appearances as long as your arm, and a new Muppets character in the leading role; this film has everything you need to escape to a brighter more colourful world.

The Muppets have to save their studios from being torn down by an evil oil baron, and so they re-unite to perform a charity fundraiser on TV. One problem they face is they don't have all the original cast, Miss Piggy lives in Paris and is the editor of plus size Vogue, cue some very good scenes with Emily Blunt as her receptionist - flash back to the Devil Wear's Prada anyone? All in all this film really did make us escape, maybe a couple of cheesy number's too many, but when The Muppets are involved all is forgiven. On general release on Friday 17th of February.

We'll Take Manhattan

Ok so we haven't seen this one, so can't quite give it the Betty stamp of approval but we have our cups of tea and settees at the ready for Thursday night (26th January). We'll Take Manhattan is set in the 1960s around the relationship between photographer, David Bailey and model, Jean Shrimpton, whether set on fact or fiction we will never get tired of tv shows or films that give us a glimpse into the time of the swinging sixties. This BBC4 mini biopic has received some mixed reactions from those that have seen the previews, however good or bad we will be watching for the costumes, make-up and hair all the way through to the end.

Let us know what you think of our 'One's to Watch' - we couldn't resist the pun and let us know what you are watching on these wet cold days.

Betty

Orla Kiely Pre Spring Summer 2012

2012-01-24T08:30:00.000Z

Orla Kiely is a British brand that keeps producing strong individual pieces that can slot straight into your wardrobe each season, with this one being no exception. With scarlet bows, striped knits, scalloped edged blouses and printed tea dresses; we have quite the wish list from Orla mounting up. We like the simplicity to this look book taken against the brick wall, we think it has a certain retro British working girl vibe. We especially like the Heidi plaits that the model has, which is the perfect way to get your hair of your neck when the weather does start to heat up (no, we can't imagine it yet either). Chunky black heels and socks, is a look we don't think we will ever get tired of, what better way to wear your summer dresses in the springtime without being too cold. Below is our pick of our favourite pieces from the look book, the collection is available to buy online and in-store now. You can visit the Orla Kiely website here.

Betty

Inspiring Monday's: Take a Trip with Retro Roadmaps

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000Z

Our series of inspiring Monday's continues with dreams of Summer road trips across America passing through our mind. Want some help with your daydreams? Then meet Beth, aka Betty! Not only is she a fellow Betty, but in her free time she scours her home country (all 50 states) for all things vintage and retro. Betty then shares her finds on what is fast becoming, our favourite website: Retro Roadmap. Always dreamed of taking a road trip across America, then let Betty from Retro Roadmap show you a few places to stop along the way....

We love Retro Roadmap so much that some of the Betty team have booked a trip there in September, now that’s inspiration for you. When did you set up Retro Roadmap and why?

Though I’ve been visiting and taking photos of “vintage, retro and cool old places” for years, I officially started Retro Roadmap in May of 2009. It all came together when we had to travel to a friend’s wedding in a neighboring state. I wanted to make it a fun road trip, and not just a drive down the highway and eating at chain restaurants. I quickly discovered that I had to research many different websites for information on diners, old downtowns, vintage shops, classic roadside restaurants that all had that cool vintage vibe. There wasn’t one main website that I could go to and read about all the fun vintage places to visit in an area. I also realised that not everyone would go through what I did to scout out unique places like this.

What has been your favourite discovery so far?

There have been so many “Oh-Boy!” moments – that’s the best part about doing “research” for Retro Roadmap and the thrill of a discovery. One place that sticks out in my mind is my discovery of The Roxy Theatre in Northampton Pennsylvania. I had no idea it existed, and just happened to take a detour into the little downtown where it is located. Driving down the road and seeing the fabulous vintage neon sign and marquee was like stepping back in time, and discovering a lost treasure on an archeological dig! I called my husband, told him I wouldn’t be home for a few hours, and waited so I could see the neon sign lit up, and it was well worth it. I shared my excitement with a dapper gentleman working the door at the theatre and he ended up being the owner, inviting me to take a tour of the place. It was a magical discovery for sure.

Do you have a favourite place to visit or somewhere you love to go back to?

I am originally from Massachusetts, and I do like travelling home to New England and seeing the cool old places that are still around. We’ve got some great vintage diners and I love seafood, so anyplace on the coast- from Maine to Cape Cod is fine with me! I love playing miniature golf, discovering a drive-in movie theatre to visit and sampling regional food , visiting thrift shops and getting the feel for how a place really is - anyplace with back roads to drive on and small towns to explore is fine with me!

Where have you not visited yet and can’t wait to explore?

It may sound like a cliché, but I’d still love to “get my kicks on Route 66”. Not only for the historic road itself but because it goes through so many states not yet on the RetroRoadmap! It’s a goal of mine to have all 50 US States represented on the Retro Roadmap – and foreign countries too!

Have you got any advice for our readers who want to set out on a road trip of their own?

My advice is just do it! You can have a pre-planned route with stops or go on “an adventure” or you can just point your car in a general direction and hope for the best, either way is fun. Wherever you go, if you look close enough you’ll (hopefully) find some cool old places to visit. Maps are handy- I love old paper maps but I admit that the map app on my iPhone is incredibly useful to gauge distances and alternate routes. With the right mindset you can have an adventurous road trip and not even be an hour from your own home - it’s all about taking time to discover the places you may have normally passed by. It can be fun to be a tourist - even if you’ve lived someplace all your life!

What is the best part about Retro Roadmap?

While I do love the “thrill of the hunt” and discovering new old places, I think the best part about Retro Roadmap is that hopefully I’m helping these cool old businesses stick around for a while longer. I figure if I make it easy for folks to find these places - and learn a little bit about them through my photos and words, and realise they’re worth stopping at, that they’ll try them out. If that happens then these folks are spending their money at these businesses, which keeps them alive. While I’d love to, I can’t buy every vintage diner, amusement park, carousel or movie theatre - but maybe with my photos and words I can help them survive and be visited by a wider audience.

What are your wardrobe essentials when setting out on the road?

There’s nothing I love more than waking up on a warm sunny day, putting on a vintage sundress, slip on my flip-flops or Keds, with my oversized sunglasses, grabbing my cardigan sweater and hitting the road! I’m rarely seen without a cardigan - no matter what season. If it’s too cold for that it’s a pair of jeans and a t-shirt (plus cardigan and Keds). I love the summer months and try to get out on the road as much as I can during the warm weather.

Tell us one thing about you that we should know...

Hmmm....well my family and friends call me Beth - but I’m really a Betty at heart! My nickname Mod Betty came about from a small “shop” I used to have, selling vintage and mid-century-modern house wares, vintage clothes, records etc. I’ve been told that my enthusiastic disposition, friendliness and helpful nature truly make me a textbook Betty (Note from Editor – she sounds like a Betty to us!).

Most importantly what is your perfect soundtrack to a road trip?

Though my husband is the professional musician in the family (CliffHillis.com) I love to sing along to whatever is playing when I’m driving. I like everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Fountains of Wayne, The Beatles, Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers, The Bird & The Bee, I’ve got pretty wide and varied tastes in music. I love being able to learn the word to the old jazz standards while I’m behind the wheel - Sinatra, Astrud Gilberto, Nat King Cole. When I’m singing along in the car no one can tell if I’ve messed up a lyric AND if I turn up the radio loud enough no-one can hear those missed notes.

Now please excuse us whilst we go and daydream the rest of Monday away. Have you ever wanted to take a road trip somewhere? Or have you lived the dream and gone cross country? Let us know, we would love to hear your tales.

Betty

Words Words Words, Tatty Devine at Selfridges: Competition

2012-01-20T01:00:00.000Z

When we found out Tatty Devine were going to be popping up at Selfridges we couldn't wait to see what that had done with the space and how they had made it there own - it looks really impressive to answer those two questions in one! Tatty Devine is a brand that we have grown up with here at Betty, we can all remember our first piece of jewellery and how we saved our early earnings up for one of their wonderfully unique pieces. Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine make up the two halves of the company which has come a long way since we were rocking our plectrum bracelets back in the day. The duo set up the business in 1999, since then they have two stores in London and 100 stockists dotted all over the world.

When we popped into Selfridges this week, Rosie was there to meet us, and she is every bit as lovely as you would imagine. The Words Words Words space has popped up in Selfridges' Wonder Room to celebrate the power of words, literature and to co-inside with Selfridges 15,000-book strong library.

TD have brought a pop up workshop with them to make bespoke acrylic name necklaces for you, one of the Tatty Devine technician's will take your 'order' and make your necklace on the spot for you (or at busy times, the same day). There are so many colour, charm and font options you might be there a while deciding, we know we were, poor Rosie who was helping us choose had to put up with the constant deliberation.

Anyway in the end we went with the new Peach Melba acrylic, the Ladybug font, with a heart charm on a gold chain....we think it looks great - perfect for Spring Summer! The only problem is, no-one at HQ is actually called Betty so we decided a competition was the only way to get this necklace to it's rightful Betty. So, if you want to win this necklace leave a comment underneath this post with your e-mail address* before Tuesday 31st of January and we will select a winner at random.

The Words Words Words space featuring Tatty Devine will be at Selfridges until the end of February. Name necklaces start at £27.50, with the option to make it bigger or have glitter/metallic acrylic for an additional £10.

Selfridges

400 Oxford Street

London

W1H 6HB

Good Luck!

Betty

*All e-mail addresses will be submitted to the Betty and Tatty Devine mailing lists, you can opt out at anytime. We will not pass them onto a 3rd party. There will be one winner, with no cash alternative. The editor's decision is final.

Bring Me Sunshine: Vivetta Spring Summer 2012

2012-01-19T08:40:00.000Z

Week by week we are going to give you a sneak peak of our favourite Spring Summer 2012 collections, as the weather appears to be getting colder (and wetter) we need some inspiration to see us through to the lighter warmer days. One of our firm favourites, Vivi Ponti the founder and sole designer of cult brand Vivetta, continues to please us each season with her quirky and playful designs. This season is no exception, with her cloud print fabrics, large gingham checks and fruit inspired handbags; Vivetta takes you away to an almost Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired world. The 50s Teddyboy quiffs in this look book, give what could be a sickly sweet look a rock & roll edge - we are in love!

We have started writing our wish list, the only problem is that it seems to be getting quite long. What is your favourite piece? Take a look at the rest of the look book online, here.

Betty

Kevin Murphy Color Bug Review

2012-01-18T00:30:00.000Z

We can't stop thinking about candy coloured hair, ever since we blogged about Bleach in Dalston (which can now also be found in Topshop Oxford Circus), we've dreamed of hair every colour of the rainbow. However we have never been quite ready for the full commitment that comes with it, so when we got a Kevin Murphy Color Bug in our Christmas stocking (after we figured out what it was) we couldn't wait to try it out. What on this earth is a colour bug we hear you cry?
It's compressed coloured powder that you rub on your hair to transform your hair either pink, purple or orange, that you can then wash straight out. The Australian hairdresser discovered the idea after a trip to India, where to temporarily change your hair colour you rub on coloured powders to dry hair.....we can't believe we didn't think of it before either.

After giving the Colour Bug a try we think it is a brilliant idea, whether it's for a night out or you just fancy pastel coloured hair. Even if your hair is brunette it still shows up, as the colour sits on top of the hair, however the lighter your hair the more vibrant the colour. After a day or twos wear it faded out to a pastel pink, and on light bleached hair it left a pink-ish sheen after washing, however we quite like that look so didn't mind. On the instructions, which we rescued from the bin, it does recommend that people with pale hair treat their hair with leave in conditioner as the colour may grab. We found a video on YouTube of Kevin applying it to a model's hair and here is our before and after images. Kevin Murphy Colour Bugs can be found online, here.

What do you think to the Color Bug - have you tried it yet?

Betty

x

Inspiring Monday's: Loft Living Decorating Ideas

2012-01-16T00:30:00.000Z

In London it is increasingly hard to find a flat within your budget with enough space for you and the cat. More are more people are getting creative with their space, and in the second issue of Betty, we spoke to graphic designer and cake baker Leanne Franks about living in her loft apartment. With a dressing room underneath her bed, Leanne and her boyfriend have utilised their living space to make her a loft apartment the perfect retro escape. Located just off Brick Lane, it certainly charmed us. In our series of 'Inspiring Monday's' we speak to her to see how it was done:

Why did you decide to move into a space like this?

I had been looking for somewhere to live in East London for a while and someone suggested I should look at live/work spaces. These are usually affordable studio apartments converted from derelict warehouses. Looking at what was out there I loved how unique the spaces, this particular space was a blank canvas when I went to view and I thought it’d be fun to add my own touch to the space

How much work did you have to do to get it how you wanted?

Luckily I have a lovely boyfriend who’s extremely handy with a toolbox. I gave him a sketch of what I wanted, although it was his idea to add the bunk bed in the rafters to maximise the space (ever the logical thinker). We made all the kitchen fittings and the bed frame before we moved in, which took about 2 weeks. It was a case of knowing what I wanted and planning ahead before I moved in.

What are the benefits of this space?

The location is the greatest benefit of this space. The way we’ve set it out though has allowed a studio flat to be transformed into an apartment with separate living spaces within it. The actual building itself has lovely high ceilings making it feel much bigger than it actually is. The large warehouse style windows on all walls mean it is so bright all the time, which really adds to the look and feel of the place.

What’s your favourite part?

I think the bed being up in the roof is my favourite part of the apartment, it is really cosy. It’s so handy with it being high up in the roof as it allows me to have my dressing room underneath. It just makes the place much more neat looking and increases storage space.

Are there any downsides?

The windows. Whilst they allow lots of light in they also tend to heat the place during the summer. I get around this by keeping the blinds down most of the day in summer – which is a shame. Another downside is that it’s not great for entertaining. There isn’t much room for friends to stay over and it’d be an awful place to take part in ‘Come Dine With Me’...where would I disappear off to, whilst I talked about the other contestants?

What would you say your interiors taste is inspired by?

It’s definitely inspired by the 1950’s kitsch look. I’ve always loved everything about 1950’s style but I also think it’s nice to mix things up with a modern twist. The kitchen was definitely meant to look like a 50’s kitchenette but then the living room area is quite New York loft (think the ‘Friends’ apartment). When it comes down to it though the nature of the space heavily influenced how the interior was set out. With the fact I had to beg, borrow and steal (well maybe not steal) the furniture from various friends/relatives who were throwing things out, led it accidentally to be a mish-mash of vintage and modern style.

Do you have any tips for our readers who want to do something similar?

Keep your eye out for various live/work websites because there’s always places coming up, especially in East London where there seems to be converted warehouses in abundance. Also don’t be put off by somewhere if it’s totally bare, think of it as a blank piece of paper that you can stamp your style all over. Be prepared for a bit of hard work but it’ll pay off in the end when you have a fabulous unique home!

What do you think to Leanne's space? Do you have any space saving ways of living?

Betty

All images are property of Hayley Harvey and not to be reproduced without permission - thanks!

Unique Places to Stay: Canopy & Stars

2012-01-12T00:30:00.000Z

At this time of year, not only are we all busy trying to make positive changes in our lives (we're not quite calling them resolutions) but we are also thinking about when our next holiday is going to be. A few of us at Betty didn't get away last year, and we think a holiday, even 5 days away near to where you live, is much needed rest for the mind and body. So whilst we were looking for places to stay, we remembered a site we bookmarked some months ago called, Canopy & Stars. From a traditional gypsy caravan on farm, to a vintage-esque wooden cabin in Normandy, an American airstream in Wales and a Yurt with a running bathtub in Devon, Canopy & Stars has all the best kitsch outdoor holidays all on one website.

When you feast your eyes on some of these places, we're sure you will be day dreaming about hotter months in no time.

You can find these and so many more beautiful places to stay on their website, where are you dreaming of going away this Summer?

www.canopyandstars.co.uk

Betty

Mulberry Spring Summer 2012 - Brighton Beach

2012-01-11T00:30:00.000Z

With legendary set designer Andy Hillman and Betty's favourite photographer Tim Walker working on the Spring Summer 2012 Mulberry adverts, the final shots were bound to look like something lifted straight from our dreams. Set on Brighton Beach (we we did our very own shoot for the 1st issue of Betty here), giant melting ice creams, ice lollies and sticks of rock were the backdrop for the ad campaign. Paired with Mulberry's sorbet inspired clothes and giant vanilla Alexa's this has certainly got us looking ahead to the Spring Summer season. We can't wait until the weather warms up a little so we can take a day trip to Brighton. The pier in these shots has to be our favourite part - what is your favourite image?

www.mulberry.com

Betty

Vivian Maier Street Photographer

2012-01-10T08:43:00.001Z

Vivian Maier is somewhat of a mystery as photographers go, Maier's work was only shared with the world in 2009. Throughout her life, Vivian Maier was a nanny for 40 years, on her days off took photographs which accumulated to over 100,000 negatives of photographs capturing the streets of New York and Chicago in the 50s and 60s. A book capturing some of her best images was released in December 2011, it's amazing to think that this book has been available for just over a month when you see her photographs. Her work was uncovered by a real estate, John Maloof, who bought 30,000 prints and negatives and a house auction in 2007. If you live in LA, Vivian's work is currently on display at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery until January the 28th and if you are in New York, the Howard Greenberg Gallery has a selection of he work until the same date (28th of Jan). For those of you who are not able to get to a gallery but want to see more, you can get the newly released book here, or visit the Vivian Maier website here.

www.vivianmaier.com

Which one is your favourite?

Betty

Inspiring Monday's: Betty Visits Drink, Shop & Do

2012-01-08T22:51:00.000Z

Wasone of your new year’s resolutions to try new things, or maybe to start that business dream? If so, we have just the place for you. We went down to meet Kristie andCoralie who own the wonderfully unique Drink, Shop & Do, which is locatedaround the corner from Kings Cross station in an old Victorian bathhouse. Imagine a place where you can buy oldsweets, vintage furniture and crockery, but also somewhere where you can feaston afternoon tea and stay into the evening drinking cocktails and attendingcraft workshops….it sounds to good to be true. Luckily for us, it is not and our dreams came true when westepped inside the wonderful world that Kristie and Coralie have made, it is oneof Betty’s favourite places to visit in London. We sat down with them both for a pot of tea to talk abouthow they set up their dream business to see if we could pass any tips onto you.

Howlong have you been open and what kind of response have you had to it?

Coralie: We have beenopen just over a year and had an overwhelming response. We were worried when we opened thedoors, we were thinking ‘what if no-one comes?’ However luckily that has not been the case!

Whatdid you both do before you opened up?

C: I had alreadyleft my job and started illustrating from home, which I thought was what Iwanted to do; however it wasn’t making me happy. I had a bit of a panic, so in one of those life crisismoments I rang Kristie. We met upand sat down and got talking about what would be our dream shop, I wanted adesign shop where people could sit down and get a little drunk, Kristie wanteda teashop that sold homemade cakes and old-fashioned sweets. We thought we could combine them alland Drink, Shop & Do was born.

Howdid you go about researching the market and seeing if it would work?

C:Luckilythe space we are in now was vacant whilst we were looking, I had known thisbuilding through a previous job and knew the splendor that was behind the shopfront. We held a pop up shop overChristmas and were surprised by such a strong positive reaction, so we knew itwould work, which in turn helped us with our business plan.

Whathas been your high point so far?

C: It is sorewarding that people walk through the door everyday and say how much they lovewhat we do and the space we are in. I have never worked in a job where I get such a positive reaction.

Kristie:Whenthere is a queue outside the door, last weekend before we opened, there was aqueue outside all the way down the railings. It reminded me of my favourite film Mary Poppins when allthe nannies are queuing outside the Bank’s household. Also when both Coralie and myself are working and it isreally busy, there is a great atmosphere, sometimes we take a moment to highfive each other and make ourselves a cocktail.

Wouldyou go back to a time before the shop opened?

C:Notat all! However the downside to itis that it is quite exhausting and we don’t have much of a life outside thebusiness, especially as we are open late – we don’t get much sleep!

Whatis like working with your best friend?

C:It’sgood as we know each other so well (the girls have been friends since the ageof 11) we know each others strong points and weak points and we balance eachother very well. I don’t thinkeither us would have been brave enough to do this on our own, having someoneelse there makes everything seem more achievable. We are very honest are talk to each other a lot which meanswe work together well.

K:Whenyou have known someone since the age of 11 you have lived through those teenageyears with each other. In myopinion the worst years you can know someone, as it can be quite hellish. So if you can survive that you cansurvive anything!

Haveyou got any advice for our readers in achieving their business dreams?

C:Juststart doing it, as soon as you want to make your dream become a reality put pento paper and start writing down your thoughts and ideas. A circle doesn’t have a beginning, youbegin working on all areas and then slowly they begin to piece themselvestogether. Talk to lots of people,keep asking questions until you find the information or answer you need, thatis invaluable.

K:Ithink setting up a business alone must be so hard, you have to be so confidentand sure of what you are doing. Working with Coralie it seems less risky, also the pop-up shop was agreat for us. Testing your idea out,on your target market not only makes you more sure of your idea it also allowsyou to see if it is what you really want to do.

Wehave heard about the drink and shop part, now we want to know about the do.

Canyou tell us about the nights that you hold here and how they began?

C:Theystarted every Wednesday after we had graduated from art school and were allworking in admin jobs. We missedthe creativity and all got together to hold an ‘art club’ at my house. It became really popular and grew toobig for my living room. We wantedto have somewhere that had nights that were really inspiring, to help peopleswitch off from the daily grind – making people happier!

Thenext few weeks see quite the programme of events in Drink, Shop & Do. Our picksare the vintage hair evenings on a Monday, musical bingo and beginnerscrochet. All happening January2012, so what are you waiting for? We’ll see you there!

Drink,Shop & Do can be found at:

9 Caledonian Road

London

N1 9DX

The nearest tube is King’s Cross. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 12–11pm, Saturday 10.30–12pm Sunday 10.30–10pm. E: mail@drinkshopdo.com T: 0203 343 9138

www.drinkshopdo.com

Betty

All images are courtesy of Betty's in house photographer, Ellie Smith - and are not to be reproduced without permission.

Happy 2012!

2012-01-02T23:06:00.000Z

We hope you had a wonderful new year's eve and are enjoying the first few days of this very mild January we are having. We would just like to thank you all for your support over the past year - we couldn't have made it without you! Betty finally is in print, and if you haven't got your Winter issue yet, you can get it here. We have lots of plans for 2012, and are setting to work on the new issue of Betty as soon as we put down the selection box.

A new year always seems like a good opportunity to set yourself new challenges and goals, people always seem to discourage making resolutions, however we think as long as you don't make too many it can be a good way to work towards new things. What are you setting yourself to do this year? To give you a bit of inspiration we asked a few of the contributors who work on Betty what they were hoping to achieve in 2012, and here is what they said:

Ellie Smith

Contributing Photographer

See more live music, visit my lovely friend in New York, be healthier, go to Morocco, drink less Diet Coke, make the most of London, see more of my family and friends.

Kerry Law

Contributing Writer

Less procrastination, more getting on with it - mainly to finish renovating my flat. I'd also quite like to teach myself how to make clothes as I've a sewing machine gathering dust...

Jan Smith

Food Editor

Sort out huge collection of old photograhs and put into albums, as well as trying to do painting or life drawing classes. Also practice living for the moment....

Alex Green

Graphic Designer

Find my inner rhythm, learn to drum. (I have no rhythm), earn some actual money, move into a nicer house, start to learn German, fix my bike, use my bike, use my diary more, stay organised.

Kelly Jameson

Contributing Photographer

Visit L.A, take more photos, travel more and buy a new car.

Charlotte Jacklin

Editor

Cook more, spend less, pass my driving test and start learning to play the piano.

We would love to hear your goals for the new year, what is on your list?

Betty

On the First Day of Christmas...

2011-12-22T08:28:00.001Z

We're well and truly in the Christmas spirit here at Betty, the Christmas songs have been on repeat and we are not sure how many more mince pies we can handle. This week we've been putting up our Christmas tree and making decorations that smell and taste as good as they look.

Baked oranges are an easy and cheap way of adding that festive smell to your tree, simply cut up large orange into slices (make sure you do this the right way to get the cross section of the segments) and lay on a lined baking tray. These should then go into the oven at 100 degrees for two to three hours, this slow cooking on a low heat dries out the oranges, and gives them their glassy look. Once baked, leave for half an hour before cutting a little hole where you would like your ribbon to go, and then hang up! For an extra Christmassy smell to fill your house, you can coat them in icing sugar and cinnamon; but they won't come out the oven as transparent looking.

The next food decorations we have added to our tree are popcorn garlands. It is so easy, and can be done whilst you are curled up watching a festive film. Buy (or pop) some corn and using a needle and cotton, thread the kernels onto the cotton, easy as...popcorn! We then added candy canes, retro candle fairy lights, tied blue velvet bows to the branches, and placed some Babysham-esque Raindeer on the tree for a distinctly retro vibe.

Have you made anything for your Christmas tree this year? Tomorrow we will share with you our last minute wrapping tips and some tasty homemade treats for those unexpected Christmas guests.

Betty

Betty's Guide to Teacup Candles

2011-12-16T07:59:00.000Z

We love craft projects here at Betty, especially at Christmas time; teacups and candles combine two of our favourite things. With this how to guide from one of Betty’s contributing photographers, we can show you how to make your very own. If you don’t have the time, or the patience (it’s a lot harder than Kelly makes it look), you can pick one up in her Etsy shop, just in time for Christmas. Click to visit Old Curiosity here.

You will need:

2 saucepans (to make a double burner or bain marie)

Measuring jug

Scales

Thermometer

Lollipop stick

Cocktail stick

Spatula

Teacups

Paraffin wax beads

Beeswax beads (acts as a hardening agent to give you a long, clean burn – use 5% beeswax to 95% paraffin)

Wick (pre-tabbed with sustainer)

Glue dots (to stick the wick in the teacup)

Candle wax dye (optional)

Essential Oil (optional)

Step 1

To work out how much wax you will need, fill the teacup with water and measure the amount in a jug. You will need the corresponding amount of wax, e.g 120ml of water will be 120g of wax. Add 5% beeswax to 95% paraffin.

Step 2

Prepare your wick. Using pre-tabbed wicks with sustainers is much easier and can be bought cheaply off eBay. Stick a glue dot onto the bottom of the sustainer and stick centrally in the bottom of the teacup.Make a hole in a lollipop stick and place it over the wick, rest it on the top of the teacup to hold the wick central and prevent it from falling over when the hot wax is poured in.

Step 3

Put your wax beads in the top pan of a double boiler. Add water to the bottom pan like a bain marie. All wax has a flash point, so a double-boiler is essential to prevent it bursting into flames. Add the wax dye and heat gently, stirring as you go.

Step 4

When the wax has reached 170 degrees and has melted (you can use a thermometer if you want to be precise), remove from the heat, add any essential oil if you want a scented candle. Pour the wax into your teacup in one go leaving some in the pan for your second pour. After about 20 minutes when a skin has formed on the top, make relief holes in the wax with a cocktail stick to let air out and prevent dipping. The wax cools as it contracts and will form a ‘wax well’ which should be filled in by doing a second pour.

Continue to break the relief holes every 30 minutes or so until the wax has hardened.

Step 5

After 8 hours when the wax is cooled you need to reheat the leftover wax in the pan to 10-15 degrees hotter than the first pour, this will ensure a good bond between the two layers of wax.

Pour in the wax to fill in the ‘wax well’ and relief holes. Leave to cool for a further 12 hours and you should be left with a smooth even surface to your candle.

Trim the wick to ¼” and wait at least 24 hours before lighting the candle.

We can't wait to light ours that we have bought from Old Curiosity, we will be trying to make our own in the new year. If you give it a try, let us know how you get on!

Betty

Deck The Halls...

2011-12-15T08:11:00.000Z

Christmas is just around the corner and if you haven't decorated your tree already, we have Kerry Law to talk us through the best decorations on offer.

1. Wedgwood Embossed Baubles and Snowflake from Liberty, £25.00/£17.50

Some real fine bone china baubles and earthenware snowflakes for your tree! Beautifully embossed with intricate snowflake designs in cool wintery colours, these classic decorations mean you need to keep the cat away from the tree for the whole season – actually, in fact, no-one go near the tree!

3/5 – very pretty but sheer luxury, we'll only be having one on our tree

2. Chalkboard Wish List Christmas Star from Cancer Research Shop, £2.95

A brilliant idea: a chalkboard hanging decoration allowing you to write heart-felt messages or just huge hints about what you’d like for Christmas! 17cm wide with its own gingham ribbon and chalk attached.

4/5 – all profits go to charity, and that’s what Christmas is all about

3. Folk Christmas Pudding Ball from Gisela Graham, via Selfridges £8.95

Add a folksy touch to your Christmas tree with this gorgeous felt pudding. With icing, berry and beading detail, just make sure any Christmas visitors don’t try and eat them. Owl, robin and penguin folk decorations also available.

5/5 – perfectly round and plump (sixpence not included)

4. Party Cone Hanging Decoration from Cancer Research Shop, £9.95

How pretty are these? This set of six assorted fabric cones with their own hanging ribbons, which are big enough to be filled with chocolate treats – but luckily look equally attractive empty, after you’ve eaten the lot...

5/5 – they even look like little Christmas elf hats!

5. Red Glitter Shoe Hanging Decoration from Gisela Graham, via Heals, £2.50

There’s no place like home...with these ruby slippers hanging from your tree! 10cm long with small rose design they may look like a pair of glitter Miu Mius, but you must never, ever try and squeeze your feet into them – we know you want to, but it’s going to hurt.

4/5 – affordable enough to buy several and induce some shoe envy in friends

What are you hanging on your tree this Christmas?

Betty

Betty's Guide to Mince Pies

2011-12-08T07:53:00.001Z

As promised here is Jan Smith’sdelicious recipe for mince pies, we love nothing more than homemade mince piesat this time of year and these ones are delicious! This recipe should make about 20 mince pies:

Ingredients:

225 g plain flour

Large pinch salt

1 tablespoon caster sugar

100g butter, cut into small cubes

1 egg yolk

1 jar mincemeat

Zest of I lemon

1 eating apple peeled and grated

Handful dried cranberries, sultanasor chopped dried apricots

Milk, caster or icing sugar

Round Cutter

Star cutter

Bun tray

Betty Tip:

*You can use shop bought pastry –make sure you buy a brand labeled all butter for the best flavour, also buy agood basic brand of mincemeat and perk it up with lemon and a bit more of yourfavourite dried fruit*

Method:

Put the flour, salt and sugar in abowl and mix. Add the butter andrub in lightly with your fingertips. Now add the egg yolk and a splash of water. Knead the mixture gently until it comes together in a lovelydoughy ball. If it is crumbly adda little more water, but not too much.

Mix the mincemeat with the lemonzest, apple and fruits of your choice. Roll out the pastry as thinly as you can. Put lots of flour on the surface so it doesn’t stick. Cut out rounds to fit a bun tin andfill with mincemeat. Don’toverfill as it will bubble out and burn.

Cut stars or smaller circles for thetops. Brush the tops with milk andpress milk side down onto the mincemeat, then make a small cut in the top tolet steam escape. Cook for about15 minutes at 200c. Serve warm withvanilla ice cream or loads of really thick double cream.

Betty

The Best Christmas is a Handmade Christmas...

2011-12-06T22:35:00.001Z

Our Food Editor, Jan Smith has been busy around London preparing for the festive season, we have her delicious recipe for mince pie's coming tomorrow. Whilst Jan was out and about shopping for ingredients last weekend, she stumbled across the Designer Makers Handmade Christmas Gift Shop in Exmouth Market. This Pop-Up store is only in town until the 10th of December, so make sure you get down this week for a seriously good selection of gifts, jewellery, graphic design prints, textiles and ceramics. Look at this decoration that is from one of the designers called 'Mel Made This' - we are not sure it's going to make it under someone's Christmas tree or stay on ours....

If you can't get down to Exmouth Market, take a look at the Designers & Makers Big Cartel shop for lots more handmade treats, here or their website here. If you are going down, don't forget to take some money, as they don't accept cards, let us know what you pick up!

18 Exmouth Market
London
EC1R 4QE

Betty

Betty The Winter Issue - Have You Got Yours Yet?

2011-12-04T21:05:00.001Z

We are delighted to announce that the 3rd issue of Betty is now finished and available for the first time in print format! After many weeks of hard work, the 68 page, Winter 2011/12 issue is ready for you to curl up with on a cold Winter's evening.

This issue contains interviews with illustrator Emma Block, designer Elizabeth Lau, knitwear extraordinaire Donna Wilson and hair genius Belinda Hay. We road test the best red lipsticks on the market with the girls from Vivienne of Holloway, and learn how to coiffe a beehive for the festive season with the Painted Lady. There is lots of fashion inspiration for the colder months, with chunky winter knits, fancy dress inspiration and woodland printed dresses. We also get busy in the kitchen making home made edible gifts and lazy Sunday loaf cakes.

Betty is available to buy for £6.00 on our very own Betty store, here.

We hope you like it!

The Betty team

Memoirs of Lost Time

2011-11-28T09:42:00.001Z

Don’t worry we haven’t disappeared; we have been busy bees working on the Winter issue of Betty. Watch this space this week, where we will have our first printed issue available for you to buy. In the meantime we are back and shall be updating the blog on a more regular daily basis, we have lots of exciting things in store to share with you.

Today we want to show you Indian born photographer, Vikram Kushwah’s work. His images have captured our imaginations here at Betty, as soon as we saw his dreamy, fairytale-esque images we fell in love and drifted off to a faraway land. His new series ‘Memoirs of Lost Time’ that he is working on with fashion designer and researcher, Trisha Sakhlecha, features some of Betty’s favourite people. Including designer Elizabeth Lau, lingerie designer Loulou Androlia and the musical talent of Michael King and Emily Barker. The images capture them in dramatic landscapes, sleeping on horses and floating with balloons. The colours are dusky and some of the compositions have you wondering just how it was done, however we don’t want to break the magic and like to maintain the mystery. At present the series is expanding and there are a few more people who are going to be featured. To take a look at how you can help get the book published click here.

To take a look at more of Vikram's work, you can visit his website here.

Betty

November's Hobbies...

2011-11-08T23:36:00.001Z

We are sure we say this every month, but we can't quite believe November is here already, the weather is still quite mild for this time of year too. We know we are a bit late with November's hobbies, however we are busy bees behind the Betty scenes and hopefully we will be able to tell you all about it very soon. We are quite sure you have been enjoying your fair share of bonfires, fireworks and toffee apples (we know we have), but here is what else we have planned for the rest of November.

Watching Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Betty's favourite musical trio are embarking on a nationwide tour this December and we have tickets to see them at the Scala in London on the 24th of November. Tickets are still available, to find out the rest of the dates and locations they are playing, visit their website here. Here is our favourite track from their latest album, Smoking in Heaven, entitled 'You'll Be Here Soon' - it's a toe tapper if we've ever heard one.

Cooking Soups

The slow cookers back out and so begins our yearly experimenting with various soup recipes. Do you have a soup recipe you love to cook every winter? Our current favourite is French Onion (any excuse to add a topping of cheese to something).

Visiting the Puttin' on the Glitz Exhibition

Until November the 26th, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is playing host to, Puttin' on the Glitz: The Golden Years of Art Deco Architecture in Britain. The exhibition looks at Art Deco buildings during the inner war years. The exhibition is free and will have us dreaming of an era gone by, find out more at the RIBA website, here.

Writing Letters on Liberty's Alphabet Stationary

We can't think of many better ways to spend a cold autumn evening, than curled up by the fire writing handwritten letters to your nearest and dearest. Looking at Liberty's adorable new alphabet paper it gives us a better reason than any to get writing. Everyone loves receiving things through the post, and with paper this pretty we might start writing and posting letters to ourselves. Visit the Liberty website here for more information.

Wearing Glitter Shoes

We can't wait for the festive season much longer, we know it's not time to get all Christmassy yet, but we are not sure how long we can contain ourselves for. The only way to combat this pre-festive merriment is to wear glitter heels....with everything. Although these aren't ours (we can but dream), every glitter shoe we wear or buy is inspired by these Miu Miu beauties.

What do you have planned for the month of November?

Betty

Image sources. Soup: Memory Lane Minis, Art Deco Image: J. Mayor/ RIBA British Architectural Library Books & Periodicals Collection, Stationary: Liberty Facebook, Miu Miu Shoes, Hoards of Trends

Dissection with Lou Taylor...

2011-10-31T23:51:00.002Z

It's no secret that we think the work of papercut illustrator Lou Taylor is brilliant, remember our paper fashion shoot from Betty Issue 2? We love each new project Lou shares with us - especially this one that landed in our inbox at the weekend. Now dissection wasn't our favourite part of science class at school (that was when they made magnesium float on water), but if they taught basic biology with Lou's dissection cards we are sure we would have paid much more attention. These cards and prints are part of Lou's new online shop, which we hear has more exciting projects on the way...make sure you stop by and support her bright and colourful world.

We now believe all innards of animals are multicoloured and all frogs have a top hat and cane. You can visit the Lou Taylor website here.

Betty

Betty ♥'s Halloween

2011-10-27T07:37:00.001+01:00

We are throughly enjoying your pumpkin photos that keep landing in our inbox, it makes us want to run photo competitions all the time! Keep the entries coming for your chance to win a Lomography SprocketRocket Camera, we can't wait to see more. We are going to keep running with the Halloween theme on the blog, with our pick of spooky inspired treats. Trick or treat is the theme, but we think the only trick is a few of the 'in our dreams' prices, but any excuse to feature the Charlotte Olympia Kitty pumps....spooktacular!

1. Tim Burton Playing Cards - £3.50, The Global Bookstore

2. Black Bow Beanie Hat - £55.00, Bernstock Spiers (Liberty)

3. Perspex Ghost Necklace, £27.00, Tatty Devine

4. Kitty Slippers £485.00, Charlotte Olympia

5. Trick or Treat bags - £8.50, Notonthehighstreet.com

6.Berry Lip Marker - £8.00, Topshop

7. Halloween Print Blouse, Whistles (exclusively at Selfridges

8. Halloween Cupcake, from a selection at Hummingbird Bakery

Betty

Pumpkin Competition - Best in Show

2011-10-25T00:07:00.000+01:00

With the autumn leaves about to fall and Halloween and Bonfire night just around the corner, it's fast approaching our favourite time of year. To celebrate Halloween, we are launching a 'Best in Show' for pumpkins! We want to see your pumpkins, and the winner of the best one will receive a rather Halloweeny looking Lomography SprocketRocket camera!

Our Betty pumpkin, photograph taken by Kelly Jameson - one of Betty's regular photographic contributors

The sprockets, for you camera buffs out there, are the holes that you find at the top and bottom of film, this camera lets the photo develop outside the constraints of a normal film and up and beyond the sprockets. The camera is also fitted with a super angle wide lens which allows you to take the most stunning panoramic photography, with these two combined the world is your oyster (or pumpkin) when it comes to fitting everything you need into one shot. For more information on what the SprocketRocket can do, visit the Lomography website here.

Examples of the Sprocket in action courtesy of the Lomography website

Now how to be in with a chance to win? Well, it's quite simple really:

1. Take a photo of your Halloween pumpkin

2. E-mail it to us here at Betty (jpeg's only please): info@bettymagazine.co uk

3. Make sure you 'Like' Betty on Facebook here, or are following us on Twitter here and mention which one at the bottom of the e-mail

Carved, painted, drawn on, we can't wait to see yours!
You have until midnight on the 31st of October to submit your photos to us - may the best pumpkin win!

Betty

(The boring bits/smallprint/legal - There will be only one winner, there is no cash alternative, you must have taken the photograph yourself or own the rights to the image to submit it to the competition, this competition is open to residents of the UK only, all entrants e-mails will be submitted to Lomography UK for inclusion to their mailing list, to which you can unsubscribe at anytime, and last but by no means least; the editor's decision is final)

One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure...

2011-10-24T01:03:00.000+01:00

Lulu Guinness has always been a favourite designer of ours here at Betty, her classic retro style handbags, and quirky touches tick the Betty box of 'not taking fashion too seriously'. We were lucky enough to be invited to the SS12 press day on Tuesday and got to marvel at Lulu's latest collection entitled 'Bric-a-Brac'. And marvel we did, the collection was right up our street, as soon as we walked in, we were greeted with Lulu Cameo striped tea and saucers and a whole cake stand of pink macarons, a sure fire way to please the Betty girls!

Moving onto the bags (it's what we were there for after all) the collection was inspired by the stalls and shops that lie on Portobello Road. Cameras, books and old map collections provided the inspiration for the main features and stand out pieces. These were worked into the collection in a literal way, with the limited edition camera box bag and camera front stitched tops zips and in a more subtle way with map printed shoppers and vintage frame bags, that you could only dream of finding in a market.

Maybe one of the most noticeable things is how Lulu adapts with the times yet still keeps her unique edge. We could see ourselves wearing the miniature leather drawstring pouch bags on our bicycles yet also taking them for cocktails in an summers evening. The infamous Lulu Guinness lips got a make-over for the summer, the perspex ones were introduced in nude and pastel pink (we LOVE!) and others got blown up to twice their size with a detachable chain for a super size pout.

If we were allowed to run off with one piece then and there we think it would have been the monochrome stripe hard case clutch with the lips clasp closure, never mind about waiting until next summer - we have lots of Christmas party dresses that are calling out for that bag! Although the price points may be out of our everyday budgets, we think it is worthwhile investing, a few of us have Lulu bags at Betty and they stand the test of time in terms of style and quality. Also if we had a pound for every time someone gasped and said how much they loved our Lulu bag in the street...well, we could probably afford to buy another one!

Lulu above picking her favourite, which one is yours?

Take a look at the AW11 and new Cruise range on the Lulu Guinness website here.

Betty

x

A Week in Betty...

2011-10-20T22:08:00.003+01:00

Sometimes we just have one of those weeks, where it doesn't matter how early we get up or how late we work at night - we just can't seem to get everything done that we want too! Do you ever have weeks like that? Betty ed has been helping out at Topshop HQ and the rest of the Betty contributors have been whizzing around working on issue 3. So to update you in a nutshell, here is a mini visual diary of what we have been up to over the past week whilst absent from the blog:

Styling our favourite Henry Holland blouse on a Betty photo shoot
Lusty after the Nike for Liberty London trainer selection
Drinking a few too many milkshakes...
...and eating a few too many cupcakes
Trying out some new nail polish combinations (No.17 and OPI)
Day dreaming (again) about Miu Miu shoes

What have you been upto?

Betty
x

She Bought a Liberty Scarf...

2011-10-11T08:18:00.000+01:00

We make no secret of our love of Libertyof London here at Betty. One daywe may start an official fan club, with badges made from Liberty fabric, floralprinted paper cups, whilst we all sew something from their sewing book....anywaywe did have a point to this post. When Charlotte, the editor, was in Liberty last week buying a giftvoucher (the Royal Mint have designed special Liberty tender, the oversizedcoins comes in a purple velvet money pouch – a perfect gift) she saw this ‘howto guide’ in the scarf department.

Created in the 1930s, this guide is beautifullyillustrated and written by Joyce Dennys, and gives her take on the varioussocial activities of the time, and how to make full use of your Liberty scarffor each one. Joyce Dennys(1893-1991) was an illustrator, painter, author and playwright whose popularWWII observations of life on the home front for The Sketch Magazine, have beenmade into a book called Henrietta'sWar. We hope you love this guideas much as we do, it is available within the scarf department and is priced£5.00.

Do you own a Liberty scarf, if so how do your wear yours?

Betty

Betty's Guide to Chutney...

2011-10-10T06:59:00.000+01:00

For those of your thathave been asking about our chutney that we have been making from October’s Hobbies, here is the very easy step by step guide to Jamie Oliver’s Easy Tomato Chutney. With the weather being somild still, we have had another batch of tomato’s from our plants that havebeen producing wonderful gems all summer. If you haven’t got any tomato plants, popping down to yourlocal market and buying 1kg will be relatively cost effective, as it willproduce about 3 jars of chutney.

It doesn’t matter ifyour tomatoes are a mixture of green and red. for this chutneyyou will need (we doubled these measurements), which made 3 jars:

500g Tomatoes

140g Brown Sugar (weused half light brown and half dark brown)

1 x Red Chilli

75ml Red Wine Vinegar

200g Onions

Start by washing yourtomatoes and cutting the larger ones up, next finely dice your onions – best ofluck with this, after two we had tears streaming down our face. Pop both the tomatoes and onions into abig pan, add the sugar, vinegar and chilli, stir, then gently simmer for about 40minutes. We were slightlyconcerned that after this time, the mixture was too thin and runny, howeveronce taken of the heat and allowing it to cool down it took on a jam likeconsistency – which is perfect for chutney.

After begging,borrowing and stealing jars all summer (we have plans to serve cocktails withthe rest) we sterilised them with boiling water and let them air dry. The fabric we had was from a bit boxand cost £2.00, we used the reverse of the fabric to make the label so that itmatched the lid covering. We justused selloptape to attach it to the jar, and tied the lids with brown stringand voilia, an afternoon well spent! There are so many recipes out there, but this was by far the easiest andsimplest one we found which tasted really good. One thing to note is that it ispossibly a bit sweet, however we have known to be very heavy handed with oursugar measurements.

Have you made any chutney recently? If you have, we would love to know howyou got on!

Betty

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish...

2011-10-06T10:06:00.001+01:00

We postponed our scheduled blog post today, as it just didn't seem appropriate with the sad news of the death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple who died age 56 of pancreatic cancer. A lot of us here at Betty have iPhones and work on our macs, these are second nature to us and we can't imagine how we would get much done without them. The magazine is designed on InDesign, on a Mac computer, whilst we listen away to iTunes, mac products are an instrumental part of our working day. As a tribute to Steve we want to make sure that as many people watch this inspirational speech as possible, recorded in 2005 it makes you realise life is short and that you can make a difference. ''Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.'' - Steve Jobs 2005.

Our thoughts are with Steve's family and friends today and a big thank you from us for making the world we live in a better place.

Betty

Welcome to Monki's World...

2011-10-04T00:30:00.000+01:00

Cult clothes brand Monki have arrived in the UK, by arrived we mean now deliver to our native shores from their website! For those of you that have never heard of Monki before it is a Swedish brand that sells affordable, yet quirky clothing. One browse on their website and you will have a wish list as long as your arm. Monki quotes itself as drawing inspiration from the girls who feature in films like Ghost World and The Virgin Suicides, since these are both in our list of favourite films we knew we were going to like Monki - however we didn't realise quite how much.

We spent the majority of yesterday afternoon oooooing and ahhhing at the wonderful dresses, perfect basics and quirky accessories on their site. We wanted to share it all with you, but we thought we should narrow it down to a few pieces, or a few outfits at least. The best part is nothing we have included below is more than 60EUR, and with shipping at 6EUR we think Monki is going to be our first stop when we are looking for something new for our wardrobes.

Monki is the secret label for girls with a sense of their own individual style, including the likes of Susie Bubble, Mademoiselle Robot and Indigo Clarke. Each one has featured in their own series of videos with Monki TV, you can see some of our favourite episodes below which feature a look at Susie Bubble's wardrobe, style tips from Laetitia from Mademoiselle Robot and Indigo Clarke's gives you a tour around her neighborhood:

You can visit the unique world of Monki for yourself here.

http://www.monki.com

Betty

Trip to the Library: Tallulah Dress 35 EUR, Pencil Necklace 8 EUR, Vera Saddle BAd, 20 EUR, Mandy Loafers 30 EUR, Ullis Mittens 10 EUR, Lucy Hat 12 EUR

Lunch with Friends: Betty Knit 25 EUR, Diana Jeans 30 EUR, Mona Boots 60 EUR, Timie 'watch' 15 EUR, LOVE Hair-clips 4 EUR, Alana Plaited Belt 15EUR

First Day: Rosa Cardigan 25 EUR, Tuva This is Not a Dress Tee 15 EUR, Annelie Cord Skirt 25 EUR, Mandy Loafers 30 EUR, Arild Tan Belt 15 EUR, Brighty Laptop Case 25 EUR

Vintage Shopping: Constanza Dress 40 EUR, Magnifyer 12 EUR, Ramona Scarf 15 EUR, Eva Boots 35 EUR, Bibbi Tights 6EUR, Jules Bag 15 EUR, Robyn Hat 18 EUR

October's Hobbies

2011-10-03T10:01:00.000+01:00

Well we can't start this post without mentioning the weather, apparently it is October, or 'Hotober' as affectionately nick-named on a local radio station we sometimes listen too. We don't wish to complain about the weather (we do, we are British) but autumn is our favourite season and after the let down of the non existent summer, we were looking forward to all things that come with October. Not to be spoil sports, but we checked the weather forecast and this madness is due to cool down by Wednesday, which means we can get happily get on with October's hobbies.

Making Chutney

This time of year is perfect for making chutney. Ed (Charlotte) made tomato chutney last week from the glut of left over, mostly unripened tomatoes, that she has been growing all summer. The recipie was this one from Jamie Oliver, we don't have chef favoritism, but this recipe was really easy and turned out so tasty.

Kicking Leaves

WE. LOVE.KICKING.LEAVES. Something comes over us as soon as we see those leaves start to fall, we walk on the inside of the pavement and gutters, extending our legs in funny ways, looking for an opportunity to kick, even one leaf, that has fallen from a tree. Life's simple pleasures. This was found at Big Love Gallery and is available as a cute little card, find it here.

Drinking Storm Tea

Storm Tea contacted us and asked us if they could send some tea samples....boy, did they know how to charm us. They sent a selection of herbal and traditional teas, and we set straight to work at trying them out and are more than impressed with their unique blends. Tea drinking isn't really a new hobby for us, but with Storm Tea's unique eco policy (vegetable based inks on recyclable stock), it is one hobby we can feel all the better about.

Watching George Harrison: Living in the Material World

One of Betty's top boy crushes and favourite musician of all time has had a 3 and a half hour long biopic made about him by Martin Scorsese, which is due for release on DVD on October the 10th. If like us you can't wait until then to view it, there are nationwide previews in independant cinemas on Tuesday 4th of October. For more information visit this site here, which lists all the locations around the UK.

Preparing for Halloween

It's not too early, we spied our first pumpkins today so that must mean all hallows eve is on it's way. Our fancy inspiration will be taken from The Addams Family, shown on television over the weekend, we forgot just how good the costumes were - bring on the apple bobbing!

What do you have planned for the month of October?

Betty

Betty ♥'s The Cheese Society

2011-09-29T23:52:00.002+01:00

The blog has had a bit of a food theme this week on Betty, first biscuits, now cheese and we have a tasty chutney recipe in-store for you after this. Clothes are our first love, but food is a close second, and somedays our minds are ruled by our stomachs. A particular weakness of some of the team at Betty is cheese: cheddar cheese, soft cheese, hard cheese, blue cheese, quite frankly, any cheese! Imagine our delight when Charlotte the editor shared with us the secret society dedicated to CHEESE, we introduce to you: The Cheese Society. Located in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, it is foodie heaven, the cafe seats an intimate 22 and word from the Betty team that have frequented it, is that their twice baked cheese soufflé is worth the trip alone not to mention their chocolate brownies.

Now we don't know how many of you are reading from Lincolnshire, but geography is not going to stand between us and a good bit of cheese, The Cheese Society deliver cheese all over the UK. The most tempting item on their website is the monthly cheese selection, which is delivered to your door every month with five different cheeses to try. We were sent September's selection to try and we kid you not, it was a good Saturday night well spent!

We had never heard of the five cheeses we were sent, but couldn't wait to tuck in. We received Woolsery Goat, Sussex Blue, Morn Dew, Delice de Cremier and Dorset Red. We may have got a new obsession, there is a lot about cheese we didn't know! We always thought goat's cheese was soft...the Woolsery Goat was the first one up to taste and this was a hard goat's cheese - very subtle but tasty. Next up was the Sussex Blue, we are not so keen on a blue cheese (call us wimps) but this was a nice surprise, subtle in flavour and our second favourite out the box. Morn Dew was your typical cheesy feet smelling cheese, the smell left a lot to be desired, but again was really yummy! Dorset Red was a smoked cheese with a heavy, almost meaty flavour and was like nothing we have tried before, and saving the best until last was the Delice De Cremier. As Leanne, our art director said, it was like the vanilla slice of cheese, we couldn't get enough - that was until we read it was made with triple cream (we didn't even know that was possible!).

All in all this was such a great gift to receive in the post, whether your are cheese fiends like us or are looking for the perfect present, we think at £25.99 the monthly cheese selection form The Cheese Society should be bookmarked. It also came really lovingly packaged with information about all the cheese and little markers so we knew what we were eating. We vow never to eat Cathedral City again, and with next months offering, we are going to see how we can use it in some tasty autumn recipes.

The Cheese Society we salute you! You can visit their website for all things cheese related here.

http://www.thecheesesociety.co.uk/

Betty

Betty's Book Review: Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits

2011-09-26T00:02:00.000+01:00

When the lovely ladies from Biscuiteers e-mailed to ask if we would like a copy of their new book we couldn't reply quick enough to say yes! Our love for Biscuiteers has been well documented on Twitter, normally around 3pm - tea break time. We couldn't wait to see what their book held in store, we love cooking and baking here at Betty, but biscuits and macaroons are where we tend to fall down, so we decided to tackle our biscuit fears head on!

When we received the book it lived up to our expectations, the vivid colour photographs are so bright and inspiring, and accompanied by detailed instructions that cover everything from the golden rules of biscuit making, right through the correct equipment and supplier information for any baking equipment you might need.

The book is a fountain of biscuit making knowledge, the basic biscuit recipe was different to those we have used before, so we felt confident that it was our recipes that have failed us and let us down in the past. As the book points out it can take quite a long time to make the dough, however it is worth following each step carefully to ensure you get the results you want (you want yummy biscuits, non?)

The mixture needs your time and attention to get right, after you think you are ready to start cutting it out, we discovered we needed to place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes - impatient, us? We had also never rolled biscuit dough between two sheets of parchment paper before, this technique was new to us, but one we shall be using again as their was far less mess to clean up afterwards. After a few deep breaths and tense waiting whilst our biscuits baked in the oven, we were pleasantly surprised with how they looked - below is our step by step photo log of the biscuit making process:

A look inside 'Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits':

A guide to icing your biscuits, including piping a guide and flooding technique

A rainbow of icing colours, this book is very visually pleasing!

Now we didn't ice our biscuits in a Biscuiteers fashion, after we had taken all that time baking the biscuits we couldn't wait any longer to eat them - so we did what do best, covered them in 100s and 1000s! This did seem a shame as there are so many lovely and unusual icing ideas in the book, however now we are confident with our biscuits we think mastering the art of icing will be just as easy. Our favourite looking biscuits within the book are the New York, Paris and London themed ones, however with halloween coming up it is the perfect excuse to start on our next batch. We will keep you posted with how our icing skills are developing. Should you want to buy the book or let the experts do it for you, visit the Biscuiteers website here.

Do you have any favourite biscuits you like to make?

Betty

x

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover...

2011-09-25T21:21:00.003+01:00

Penguin are celebrating their 75th year in publishing this year, and to celebrate we have seen some wonderful redesigns of their covers (remember the embroidered cover from Jillian Tamaki here?). The latest collection in the celebrations is the Penguin Ink Series, cult classics such as Bridget Jones Diary, High Fidelity and White Teeth have had their covers redesigned by some of the top tattoo artists from around the world. In a world where you can read a book on your iPad/Kindle/insert fancy technological device here, it is just the excuse you need to go to your local book shop and buy the real thing - and it's a lot less painful than a tattoo!

Take a look at the complete Penguin Ink Series here.

Betty

Dancing to the Beat of her Own Drum

2011-09-18T18:03:00.000+01:00

Charlotte Taylor's look book made our heart's do a little dance, it is so fresh, colourful and exciting. In a world where things can sometimes be a little dark and bleak, Charlotte's designs are the perfect antidote. Going round the exhibition space on Friday at London Fashion Week we peeked a look at her new SS12 collection, it is everything we have come to expect from the Lancashire born designer, and more. Having trained at Central St Martin's and worked after graduation at Luella, Charlotte Taylor has created a strong identity that is uniquely hers with her bold graphic prints and a strong colour palettes.

We have been a fan of Charlotte's for a while, issue 2 of Betty features the mint green spider print dress from her current AW11 collection, it was part of the 'Paper Cuts' spread which was intricately cut out by the talented Lou Taylor, (you can view a blog post all about that, here).
The spring summer collection for next year is inspired by a character called Sakura who is fascinated by the nature in Japan and is thankful for her choices, passion and life. We can feel the passion in this collection and in particular the styling of the look book with those big ballerina buns, hair bows and shoes from Charlotte Olympia, it makes us very much want to be a Charlotte Taylor girl.

You can view the video to accompany the collection on Charlotte Taylor's blog, here.

Betty

x

A'hoy There!

2011-09-18T00:34:00.000+01:00

Blogging at weekends - it must mean only one thing, it must be London Fashion Week! It's that time of year when we lose our senses (and sleep) and get very giddy about all things fashion related. Since Friday we have been out and about at Somerset House to see the latest collections from some of our favourite British designers. We shall only share a few with you on the blog as we feel these things are always appreciated the most in the season they were created for, plus we are too busy getting our winter issue of Betty together to be thinking about bikinis and such!

However when we went to visit one of Betty's favourite designers, Elizabeth Lau in the exhibition space, we knew we couldn't wait another 6 months to share her SS12 collection with you. Her inspiration is Olive Oyl meets Brigitte Bardot and to showcase the clothes there is a promo video featuring The Like's keyboard player, Annie Monroe. After rushing home to watch it, we fell in love - it is the ultimate in indie girl cool. April March's iconic 'Laisse Tomber Les Filles' is the soundtrack for the collection, Elizabeth has created a wearable yet witty collection that encompasses rivera chic with a 1960s twist. Our favourite piece is the knitted dungaree dress that both Elizabeth and Blythe were sporting on their stand on Friday (take a look here), have a sneak peak at the collection and video below and be transported into the wonderful and sweet world of Elizabeth Lau.

*Warning* the following video to accompany the collection will have you copying Annie's moves in your bedroom:

Want to spend some more time in Elizabeth's world? You can visit her website, here.

Betty

Betty ♥ 's Martin Haake's Illustrations

2011-09-15T12:43:00.001+01:00

With London Fashion Week all set to start tomorrow we are getting prepared for the exciting debut of some of our favourite designers Spring Summer 2012 collections. Whilst you may just have started thinking about winter coats the fashion world are months ahead - sometimes it can get very confusing! When this amazing guide to the LFW Exhibition Space at Somerset House came through the post this morning, we knew we had to share it with you.

It is beautifully illustrated by German born Marin Haake, after working in London and for the likes of Penguin books, he now resides in Berlin. As well as illustration, Martin also works in collage and paint, in whatever medium he works in it always has the Martin Haake feel which we are in love with! His maps are our favourite of his works, they have such a sense of humour about them and keep us mesmerised noticing new details each time we look at them.

The homepage on Martin's website, which you can visit here.

The LFW exhibition guide - close-ups

The LFW exhibition guide in its full glory

Martin Haake's wrird and wonderful guide to Berlin

The Rules of Creativity

We hope you like them as much as we do!

Betty

Our Adventure Is About To Begin

2011-09-07T12:09:00.002+01:00

Our love for the wallpaper and interiors company Mini Moderns is well documented on the blog here, however our appreciation for them has just gone off the scale after collaborating with the wonderful paper cut out artist Rob Ryan. The wallpaper is aptly title ‘Our Adventure is About to Begin’, it features birds flying out of open cages with the words held in their beaks. Quoting from their website: Mini Moderns Creative Directors, Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire explain: “For us, working with Rob Ryan was a very enjoyable and creative experience. Having admired his work for such a long time it was an honour to work with such a recognised artist on this project.” Not only is the design on the wallpaper unique, but the paper itself comes from sustained forest, which is great for those of you who are socially conscience. We still don’t have a house to decorate, for those of you that do it is available in three colour ways Sky Blue, Chalky Violet and Afternoon Green. Take a closer look on their website here.

You can visit the exciting world of Rob Ryan here.

Betty

Boys are Whatever, Shoes are Forever...

2011-09-06T00:38:00.000+01:00

As soon as we saw the 30th anniversary shoe collection from Hobbs we were smitten, retro inspired shoes and quirky illustrations to boot (excuse the pun), it's just up Betty's street. Hobbs wouldn't normally be top of our list of shops in which to look for shoes, but from now on it will be after seeing this collection of shoes. As we get a little wiser in our years we appreciate spending a bit more on a pair of shoes means that they will last a little longer, as always, our mum was right. So this autumn rather than buying 10 pairs of cheap shoes we are on the look out for a couple of good quality shoes that we can wear all season without the rain seeping in, step in Hobbs (sorry again for another shoe related pun).

The range has mary-janes, chunky courts, loafers and ankle boots in two tone leathers, patent and leopard print. All the shoes in the range have a nod to 60's London, especially the Biba era, and would slot perfectly into our wardrobe to go with our endless rails of dresses. We think Hobbs have done a great job with this retro collection, take a look at the full selection on their website here.

1. Guilford Loafer

2. Richmond Mary-Jane

3. Kingston Bow Kitten

4. Cambridge Court

5. Buchanan Boot

6. Molton Button Boot

Which pair is your favourite?

Betty

The Girl Who Levitates

2011-09-05T22:47:00.001+01:00

This is quite literally an uplifting kind of post, in the form of Natsumi Hayashi. These images that have been doing the internet rounds have us gripped, we cannot wait for the latest post from Natsumi to see where she will be levitating next. Armed with her Canon EOS 5D, Natsumi captures a moment in time, that makes it appear as if she is floating through the streets of Tokyo. Her hair, clothes and facial expressions make it look as though she is levitating instead of jumping, quite a skill. Take a look at her blog here.

Betty

September's Hobbies

2011-09-01T23:14:00.000+01:00

Visiting the Corinne DayExhibition

To celebrate heroutstanding body of influential work, and to mark the one year anniversary ofher passing, The Gimpel Fils Galley in London is hosting a month longexhibition featuring Corrine’s work from her time at The Face. Compiling many images of a young KateMoss the exhibition is one we will not be missing, you can find more about ithere.

Listening toBabe Time

We are in love,Betty cannot stop referring to everyone as babes and there are two people toblame for this: Laetitia and Loulou. Both best friends and successful creative’s in their own right, Laetitiais the founder of Mademoiselle Robot and Loulou lovingly designs lingerie forher own brand, Loulou Loves You. Babe Time is a 30 minute show in which to gigglealong too once a week, it reminds us of when we used to make radio shows backat secondary school, although this is MUCH better!

Experiencing Fashion Overload

Ahhhhh September,not only the start of our favourite season (autumn) it is also a time when we go a bit starry eyed for all things fashion. Septemberplays host to London Fashion Week and Fashion’s Night Out, which is an eventthat is getting bigger and better year on year. Visit the FNO website here to find out what events arehappening in stores all over the globe. Ever wanted to do the Hula in Liberty of London or see an acoustic setat Paul Smith? September the 8^this the night for you!

Watching Florence and theMachine

Florence,Florence, Florence, let us count the ways we love thee. Betty’s favourite female artist is back –after quite some wait we would like to add. As we had hoped it was well worth the wait, the new song “What the WaterGave Me’ is a sample of what her new album has to offer, you can watch the new video on YouTube here. The Guccioutfits throughout this video reaffirm Florence as the number one girl we want to sit down and have a cup of tea with.

Making Biscuits

Not just any kindof biscuits, Biscuteer biscuits! After receiving their beautifully photographedrecipe book in the post this week, we are keen to try making some of these forourselves. Not quite sure ourswill be up to these standards, however we shall give it our best go and let youknow how we get on. We will givethe book a full review in Betty’s Reading Corner next week.

What do you have planned for the month of September?

Betty

Betty's Reading Corner: Keepsakes

2011-08-31T00:02:00.002+01:00

We are back from our holiday's! We hope you enjoyed yourselves over the bank holiday weekend, even if the weather thought it was October! What did you all get up to?

Hopefully this sneak preview of a beautiful new book will make things a little brighter, it certainly improved our day!

Keepsakes is a recipe book by Frances Hansen, it is a stunning scrapbook of recipes and keepsakes from her own life and that of close friends and family members. Frances is a well respected visual artist and lecturer, with a passion for food and cooking, which shines through in this book. Each recipe is so personal, with tried and tested tips that have been passed down through generations, it has been pieced together so lovingly - we can't wait to get out hands on it! We think this is soon to become a Betty bookshelf favourite, you can pre-order it on Amazon here (due for release on 1st October).

Betty

Burning Love...

2011-08-25T10:31:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the absence, we are on an unofficial holiday. We had to share this Tumblr with you though called The Burning House, the concept is quite simple with one question: what would you take with you? 'It's a conflict between what's practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities.' We love taking a look into people's minds and seeing what is important to them, the 4th photo down shows a girl from Norway, she would take a list of the 40 things that are beautiful in life....we like her style.

Take a look at the website here, what would you take?

Betty

Betty ♥'s Rodarte for Opening Ceremony

2011-08-17T12:54:00.000+01:00

Occasionally we get very very giddy over a look-book here at Betty, The Rodarte for Opening Ceremony is one that we have been gushing over for about a week now. What a collaboration, the Mulleavy sisters and Opening Ceremony have done it again, this 2nd collection between the two has us weak at the knees. Laura and Kate have taken the "Nordic romance of Scandinavia" as their inspiration to create both wearable and highly desirable pieces. Where else would you find a matching floral trouser and shirt combination, chunky Scandinavian knits and perfect sheer lace panelled dresses in the same collection? We love the imagination of this range, the gothic undertones of some of the darker pieces mirrored with innocence of the pastel knits of others - it is like they peeped into the window of our dreams and sketched what they saw. Although the price points aren’t overly Betty friendly, with prices starting around the $300.00 mark, we could justify saving up for a couple of special pieces as they are so unique. If you like what you see you can pre-order the first drop of the collection on Opening Ceremony’s website here. Below is our favourite images from the look book, as you can see we didn’t manage to narrow it down very well…and breathe...!

http://www.openingceremony.us/

http://www.rodarte.net/

Betty

Betty & Betts

2011-08-16T08:37:00.001+01:00

We got a little gift from a friend of Betty's a couple of weeks ago and keep meaning to share it with you, it's a Betty Book! It's perfect for writing down everything Betty related and important to-do lists.

Betty & Betts is a fair trade company who is ran by two friends who met at an egg race on a hill in South India in 2006. They both believe in beautiful products and sustainability, it is about one for you, one for them and one for us all. You get a beautiful fair trade product, the people the duo work with are provided with good employment opportunities on a fair wage and together we are helping the environment with their organic fabric and recycled paper.

We think everyone involved in Betty & Betts are doing an excellent job, the paper quality is smooth and thick and the bright colours that the books come in make us smile when we see it on our desks. You can take a look at the rest of the range here.

Betty

Operation Cup of Tea

2011-08-10T17:52:00.002+01:00

We can only applaud the great acts of kindness that we have seen on Twitter over the past few days. Riot Clean Up now has over 87,000 followers and has been assisting in organising and communicating various clean-up operations for all areas of England that have been affected. Kate Nash and Emmy the Great are also inspiring people that you should follow as they have been orchestrating pick-ups over London, for anyone who has donations for those made homeless from these mindless riots. They are collecting for a big drop off in Tottenham at the lesuire centre tonight, check in with these ladies on on Twitter to see if they will be passing your borough tonight. It really is humbling to see the tremendous kind acts that the human race is capable of and how, if we work together, we can rise above a small minority.

Operation Cup of Tea is just that, a Twitter movement which encourages people to ‘Gather in an anti-riot. For this all you need to do is post a picture on this event with a nice cup of tea at home.’ How very British. Now whilst we know this isn’t going to solve the problems we have in this country, we fully support the sentiment behind it and encourage people to stay positive. So in the spirit of things we have done a quick round up of our favourite vessel’s to drink our beloved tea from:

1. Pride and Prejudice Mug, Heals £10.50

2. My Cuppa Tea, Suck £7.50

3. Save The Planet, Urban Outfitters £6.00

4. London Mug, Cath Kidston £6.00

5. Multi Flower Print Mug, Orla Kiely £8.00

6. Believe in People, Notonthehighstreet.com £8.99

Stay safe and please contact us at info@bettymagazine.co.uk if we can do anything to help.

Betty

Riots - How You Can Help

2011-08-09T11:47:00.005+01:00

We don't normally use Betty as a space for political comment and we are not about too, what we will use this space for is helping out local communities and doing what we can to help to spread the word of positive ways in which you can contribute to cleaning up the riots that have spread over England over the past few days. Not only is our beloved London seeing mindless acts of violence, but parts of Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Leeds are experiencing more of the same.

To help take to the streets and clean up you can visit the Riot Clean Up Locations website, here and you can follow them on Twitter here. You can also assist those that have been made homeless through the riots by sending clothes, bedding and other suitable items to: Apex House, 820 Seven Sisters Road, London N15 5PQ. If you have any information about any rioters or looters you can contact Crimestoppers confidentially on 0800 555 111 and you can tweet @catchalooter on Twitter here.

Please feel free to e-mail us at info@bettymagazine.co.uk if you have any further ideas or ways that we can get involved to help. Our thoughts are with all of those this is affecting and hope there is an end to it all very soon.

Betty

If Found Please Return To...

2011-08-08T12:44:00.003+01:00

Have you ever come across something in the street and wondered where it came from and what it was all about? Found Magazine is just the place for those random photographs and notes that you find lying around, giving you a little glimpse into the lives of others.

Found also publish a magazine and they have a range of books available too, our favourite being the 'Found Polaroids' which is, as the title would suggest, a collection of found polaroids.

Here is a little selection of our favourite found things from their website, from found film roll to nail art designs:

It is one of our favourite bookmarked websites, we hope you like it too.

Betty

August's Hobbies

2011-08-03T11:29:00.001+01:00

How is it the second half of the year already? Time seems to be flyinghere at Betty, we don't want to jinx it but we think that summer might actuallyhave arrived. With this in mind our hobbies for August have a distinctsummer theme - here's hoping!

Making Layer Cakes

We can’t stopgoogling images of these types of cakes, ever since we saw this one from Oven Loves we have been smitten. Wewent straight out and bought a cake wire and food colouring and plans to testit out at the weekend (and for a pink version) are set, we shall let you knowhow we get on.

Following Miss B'sGuide to London for Under £20

In the secondissue of Betty, Briony from the wonderful 'A Girl, A Style' blog wrote a piece onthings to do in London for under £20. Unfortunately we had to trim the article down from 20 to 12, if you readthe article and enjoyed it, why not take a look at all the other suggestionsBriony has on her blog, here.

Exploring NationalTrust Parks

We went to ourfirst one last month, we visited Holkham Hall in Wells. The grounds had deer roaming around freely;we were over the moon at how close we could get to them. There is so much space you could have apicnic next to the lake or take shade underneath the trees. We are now making a list of all theNational Trust properties we want to visit, you can find a list of them on their website.

Organising our own Sports Day

Last time we enjoyed sport is when it involved a three-legged race and an egg and spoon. Why not pop down to your local park and organise one with your friends, only difference being is now you can drink Pimm's instead of orangeade and your not going to let down your school house if you loose (the shame). Sometimes it's the simple things that give you the most pleasure, i.e. watching your friends trip over each others feet in the 3 legged race.

Visiting the Lomography Pop Up Shop

Our favourite camera people, Lomography are hosting a pop-up store in Selfridges for the whole month of August. They will be having camera workshops where you can borrow a camera and shoot a roll of film for only £1. Alongside this there will be arm wrestling, tug o’war, sailor tattoos and ‘bell ringing discounts for any land lubber walking aboard wearing a nautical reference.’ We will see you down there!

Betty

Present & Correct

2011-07-27T11:45:00.001+01:00

Our posts have an unintentional school theme to them this week; we are obviously nostalgic for our younger years when this time of year meant breaking up from school and having the whole summer ahead of us. We wish!

Today we wanted to share with you one of our favourite people /persons to follow on Twitter: Present & Correct. They're graphic designers turned stationery company which are based in London, and they always have the most interesting finds, for example last week they posted a photo of a bike come merry-go-round horse (it needs to be seen to be believed). Aside from filling our feed with interesting links they also run a stationary company, we don’t know about you, but nothing rouses us quite as much as new stationery, except maybe this season glitter Miu Miu boots….but that is for another time.

Their thoughtful offering of stationery is one of the best we have seen, we are particularly enamoured with their ‘Linen Recipe Book’ and ‘Know it All’ pencils, which have general knowledge facts on the side. When it comes to wrapping and note writing, they know no bounds, masking tape in every colour you could imagine and stamps and address labels to make us go weak at the knees. Alongside all this the way they present and style of this stationery is a pretty picture in itself, the Present & Correct team have got us hooked.

Take a look at our favourite things below, we apologise to non-stationery obsessives now:

Linen Covered Recipe Book

Vintage German paper bags

'Know it All' Pencils

Pick n' Mix Stamp Collection

Security Packing Labels

Loose an hour (or afternoon) and check out their website here.

Betty

Science with Markus Lupfer...

2011-07-25T13:18:00.002+01:00

After watching the below 70s style mockumentary, involving fashion and science, our love for the German born designer has increased ten fold. Now excuse us for jumping through the season's like excited children, one minute we are showing you Autumn Winter 2011 collections then we skip straight to 2012 resort collections. We will cover all the ones we love, but maybe not in a logical order - it's what happens when we get excited, apologies.

Directed by Tabitha Denholm (1/2 of DJ duo, Queen's of Noize) the video features the likes of Sadie Frost, Irina Lazareanu and Betty's favourite, Florence Welch. Entitled 'Puzzles of the Mysterious Mind', it's a tongue in cheek, scientific look at fashion types, we think it is really cleverly done and succeeds in making us laugh out loud. Fashion films with a spoken narrative can sometimes be tricky to pull off, but this one we think is really successful! We also love the collection showcased throughout, especially Florence's collar / jumper combo about 2 and a half minutes through.

Watch the video in full below:

Puzzle of the Mysterious Mind / Markus Lupfer Resort 2012 from Partizan Darkroom on Vimeo.

Which type might you be?

Betty

Stills created by Betty, however the video is property of Markus Lupfer

The Fearsome Five...

2011-07-19T18:07:00.002+01:00

We wondered how long we should wait before sharing our favourite Autumn Winter collections with you, and after the weather this week we decided not to wait another second.

The first look book we are going to share with you is 'The Fearsome Five' collection from cult New Zealand label Twenty Seven Names. When we saw the Black Magic Heartless Dress on ASOS last week it went straight to the top of our wish list. This collection is harping 'back to old school days when uniforms classified us, and music and TV defined us', never has one sentence made us feel so nostalgic. We don't know about you, but when we were at school we tried to define who we were through customising our ruck sacks, wearing beaded bracelets when the teachers weren't looking and interpreting the school's dress code in our own 'unique' way.

The Black Magic Heart Dress
♥

Their Winter collection has an edge of geek and a touch of cool about it, with its plaid checks, polka dots and buttoned up collars. We love the dresses on offer and the styling of the look book, especially the white socks over black tights, remember that? Oh how we would like to meet our 13 year old selves again and tell them everything was going to be alright!

Betty