Bridge Magazine - Part 1

SUMMER 2013 THE BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS ISSUE NORTH EDITION
YOUR HOME, YOUR LONDON FROM DOUGLAS & GORDON
NORTH EdiTiON
SUmmER 2013
THE
BrigHT
Young
THings
issuE
All hail
London’s
dazzlingly
precocious
talent
PLus
the largest
selection of
the best london
properties to
buy and rent
from douglas
& gordon
is THErE
anYTHing
oLivia granT
can’T do?
Renaissance
Woman

Finding true potential is our speciality
douglasandgordon.com/refurbishment
6768_D&G_Corp Ad April 230x300 (Ugly Duckling).indd 1 04/03/2013 17:36

PHOTOGRAPHS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ADAM FUSSELL; DESIGN SURGERY; MARCO WALKER: MORTEN ODDING; CATWALKING.COM
24
CONTENTS
28
15
56
12
REGULARS
6 EDITOR’S PICK
9 CAPITAL LETTER
10 THE LONDONER
34 STREET FOCUS
194 CLOSE UP
INSIDE
FASHION & BEAUTY
15 TREND REPORT Earning our fashion
stripes, plus boys cut a dash in creams and candies
19 DESIGNER NOTES Three of the hottest
young designers to watch
21 BEAUTY HOT LIST Strong shades pack
a beauty punch this season
CULTURE
22 EVENTS GUIDE Summer’s sorted with
our guide to its sporting and cultural highlights
28 FIRST CITY London has always been a
trailblazer. Here’s our pick of the city’s “firsts”
40 CULTURAL NOTES A life in music with
Spector frontman Fred Macpherson
FEATURES
24 GRANTED AN AUDIENCE Actress,
singer, dancer, writer – the talented Olivia Grant
30 BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED
Rise and demise: the 1920s Bright Young People
FOOD
36 REVIEWS The best Japanese restaurants
38 FOOD NEWS Bite-size news nuggets
39 RECIPE Polpetto’s Florence Knight rustles
up clams and cannellini beans
INTERIORS
42 HOME STORY Lisa Moylett gets rural
and rustic in Shepherd’s Bush
46 DESIGN NEWS The coolest outdoor
chairs for summer, plus brilliant blues
48 WALLS Three prestigious properties for
sale and to let through Douglas & Gordon
D&G NEWS
60 COUNTRY TRACKS The London
Office’s affiliation with D&G makes moving to the
country simple
62 HAPPILY EVER AFTER A fairy tale
take on advertising
64 LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION D&G’s
film challenge to Ravensbourne students

4
EDITOR’S letter
SUMMER 2013 THe BrIGHT YOuNG THINGs Issue SOUTH EDITION 0.FC SOUTH FINAL.indd 122/04/2013 14:59
YOUR HOME, YOUR LONDON FROM DOUGLAS & GORDON
SOUTH EdiTiOn
summer 2013
THE
BrigHT
Young
THings
issuE
All hail
London’s
dazzlingly
precocious
talent
PLus
the largest
selection of
the best london
properties to
buy and rent
from douglas
& gordon
THE BRIGHTEST AND BEST
In the capital, we are frequently reminded of the hot young talent in our midst. Lists of “30 under 30” abound,
charting the inexorable rise of those precocious stars in the ascendant who – barely out of short trousers – have
achieved things many of us would be proud to lay claim to over the course of long lives.
As an agency full of youthful, bright and sparky talent, we at Douglas & Gordon are celebrating those exceptional
talents that have been nurtured in the Big Smoke (rather than carping enviously at their prodigious gifts), and as
such, we’ve devoted this issue to the city’s Bright Young Things.
Our cover girl Olivia Grant epitomises such stellar brilliance. Having first trained as a ballet dancer, she flirted with
opera and law, and then, after studying at Oxford, was snapped up by Matthew Vaughn to appear in Stardust . This
spring sees her return both to our screens and the dreaming spires in Endeavour , a prequel to Inspector morse ,
alongside Shaun Evans and Roger Allam. Alexander Larman meets a very down-to-earth rising star on page 24.
Elsewhere, we talk style dos and don’ts with Jonathan Bailey, page 17, who recently graced our screens in
Broadchurch and this summer appears alongside Rory Kinnear in Othello at The National Theatre. A clue: never
take to the dance floor in a too-restrictive suit while wearing cartoon underwear.
Fred Macpherson has, meanwhile, cut a dash through the charts over the past year as frontman of the much-lauded
Spector, attracting comparisons with Jarvis Cocker, Brandon Flowers and many more besides. We talk to him on
page 40 about his musical influences and ultimate heroes. We also chat to the Young Georgians, page 12, headed up
by the charming Oliver Gerrish who has corralled an ever-expanding group of architecture enthusiasts, including
dandy-about-town Henry Conway, to lavish praise and appreciation upon this most elegant period in British
aesthetic history.
All this plus Florence Knight, the absurdly talented 26-year-old head chef at Russell Norman’s Polpetto, who guides us
through her recipe for ultra-summery, ultra-simple clams and cannellini beans on page 39. Meanwhile, on page 194,
Charlie Gilkes of Barts, Maggie’s and Bunga Bunga tells us why drinking and dining out is all about theatre these days.
And finally, don’t miss our eye-poppingly bright and beautiful guide to accessorising both yourself and your home
this summer, page 6 – or words of wisdom from the inimitable Percival the Parakeet, page 10. I do hope you enjoy
this issue of Bridge – and the coming of the long-awaited summer.
Nancy Alsop , Editor
is THErE
anYTHing
oLivia granT
can’T do?
Renaissance
Woman
This issue’s BRIDGE cover of
Olivia Grant was photographed
by Adam Fussell. Lace chiffon
dress by Alberta Ferretti.
EDITORIAL
Editor Nancy Alsop
Creative director Cat Howard
Designer Edward Webb
Sub editor Camilla Cary-Elwes
Editorial assistant Iska Lupton
Editorial director Laura Roechert
Contributors Adam Fussell,
Michael Gray, Hope Lawrie, Maeve
Hosea, Digby Warde-Aldam,
Marco Walker,
Morten Odding, James Hulme,
Alexander Larman, Georgina Luck,
Design Surgery,
Base Studios
Print Xpedient Print Services
For D&G George Franks &
Olivia Quarrelle
D&G brand consultants
Ideas Factory
PUBLISHING
CEO/publisher Tim Lovell
Finance Manager Jordan Buchanan
Digital Creative Matt Flynn
Published by Matchbox
Publishing Ltd, 10 Barley Mow
Passage, London W4 4PH
Tel 020 3056 6860
contact@matchboxmag.com
www.matchboxpublishing.com
© Matchbox Publishing Ltd 2013
The views expressed in this
magazine are not necessarily
the views of Douglas & Gordon
or Matchbox Publishing.
The contents of this magazine
are fully protected by copyright
and may not be reproduced
without permission.

STORES NATIONWIDE • FREEPHONE 0808 144 4343 • andsotobed.co.uk
ASTB_Matchbox_MAY13.indd 1 20/03/2013 10:22

6
Onyx blue iPad case,
£210; acnestudios.com
Orange neon colour block
wristwatch by TOkyObay,
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Lemongrass cotton
tub chair, £395;
oliverbonas.com
Sunburst bracelet by
Holst and Lee, £125;
oxygenboutique.com
Coastal Portable
BBQ, £29.99;
mocha.uk.com
Geometric necklace,
£135; tattydevine.com
Lomography Diana
F+ CMyk camera, £89;
conranshop.co.uk
CMyk playing cards, £9;
hundredmillion.co.uk
Tri-print suede backpack
by Pierre Hardy, £1,495;
selfridges.com
Robot alarm clock in
royal blue, £17.50;
paperchase.co.uk
Mr. LEM coffee table,
£374; clippings.com
Set of six mechanical
coloured pencils,
£11.95; liberty.co.uk
Sunglasses by Cutler and Gross,
£299; conranshop.co.uk

Mini Marie Therese
chandelier, £70;
clippings.com
Pantone chair, £45;
madeindesign.com
kMix blender in yellow,
£130; kenwoodworld.com
Birdie bike in watermelon,
£399; bobbinbikes.co.uk
Tray table, £575;
davidlinley.com
Editor’s PICK
COlOur
lifts the spirits like a shot of dazzling
colour, so let the brightest pieces of the
season put you in the sunshine mood
POPnothing
FB beach bat set with
red handle, £120;
conranshop.co.uk
Dotted cushion by
ferm Living, £46.40;
madeindesign.co.uk
Blow tables by
konstantin Grcic, £3,400;
establishedandsons.com
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 7

K i t c h e n s s i n c e 1 9 8 1
120 Wigmore street, London, W1U 3Ls
509 Uxbridge Road, hatch end, Pinner, Middlesex hA5 4Js
77-79 Wycombe end, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire hP9 1LX
telephone: 020 7486 3080
email: info@halcyon-interiors.co.uk | www.halcyon-interiors.co.uk
Halcyon ad_230x300mm.indd 1 19/03/2013 12:18

Digby Warde-Aldam
Historical memory works in strange ways.
Although we like to think our society places
more importance on merit and ingenuity,
it’s actually often something other than
achievement that catches the imagination.
We collectively recall figures whose claims
to immortality are somewhat less than
respectable, while the true pioneers languish
in obscurity. Don’t believe me? You try
and name the individual who invented
the computer chip.
So far, so arbitrary, but
certainly the apparent
randomness of our
memories is a fascinating
quirk, and I rather
like this seemingly
scattergun approach
to fame – and,
indeed, infamy.
Take, for instance,
the Bright Young
Things of the 1920s.
They became one of the
most mythologised motley
youth groups in British history,
purely – it could be argued – on the
strength of having spent the era in a wellattired
alcoholic fug. Would it be grandiose
to term theirs a “movement”? Certainly some
of its more ambitious members painted
searing – and at times scathing – portraits
of their generation via highly attuned and
often archly acid pens, but for all the Waughs
and Mitfords there are scores of others who
simply revelled in the wild abandon of both
the age and their louche-living set.
And what’s not to like? If sharp style
coupled with reckless indulgence were still
a reliable conduit to fame, I’d be tempted
to blow my savings on booze and Margaret
Howell so I could make it into Who’s Who
before the decade was out.
Sadly for me though, being posh and drunk
no longer seems a guarantee of posthumous
Capital LETTER
style vs
substance
Vile bodies or bright young things?
digby Warde-aldam on the scenesters
of today Versus their 1920s forebears
style-icon status. Although the ever more
pantomimic Simon Cowell has repeatedly
shown us it is possible to become famous
(albeit usually briefly) by doing next to
nothing not very well, you need slightly
more robust credentials to class yourself as
a Bright Young Thing these days.
While being intoxicated and nicely turnedout
can’t hurt (see James Bond), it does help if
you’re actually good at something – and
preferably something a bit more
glamorous than, say, reciting
bus timetables. Which,
come to think of it, pretty
much rules me out of
the equation.
No, the Bright
Young Things of
today do the sort of
things that tend to be
associated with talent
– that most potent of
words. Honestly, come
the next apocalypse
scare, do you really imagine
you’ll remember wots’isface
from Made in Chelsea over Lena
Dunham? Should you answer yes, you’re
either an outspoken clairvoyant or, more
likely, watching the wrong TV shows.
La justice, enfin! This is great, obviously,
and I’m first to champion creativity and the
notion of fame for actually doing something,
even if it does all too nearly nullify my
earlier theory that merit has little to do with
posterity. As for me? As I cast about wildly
for my own latent gifts (those timetables
notwithstanding), I’m content to channel the
spirit of our fast-living friends.
So I’ll see you on the other side of this crate
of supermarket gin – not quite the Château
Lafite Rothschild enjoyed by those from
whom I’m taking inspiration, but I reckon
it might leave less of a stain on those nice
clothes I was on about.
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 9

“It Is even
rumoured that
we were set free
from cramped
confInement by
jImI hendrIx
on carnaby
street”
emerald
city percival,
10
the rose-ringed parakeet, on
rubbing feathers with a guitar legend
and icons of the silver screen

WORDS NANCY ALSOP PHOTOGRAPH © GETTY.COM
WINGED WONDER
Percival the parakeet, Kensington Gardens
“‘Who’s a pretty boy then?’
well, my dear, one does so hate
to boast (too, too vulgar) but when
this enquiry comes tripping off
the lips of seemingly every other
passerby, it would be churlish not
to concede that one is in possession
of a certain je ne sais quoi. it’s the
emerald plumes, so i’m told (‘so
jolly! such exoticism!’ as the cry goes
out around west london’s keenest
twitchers), that both enchant and
distinguish the parakeet as the most
decorative on the english avian
spectrum of pulchritude.
“the robins with their red breasts,
and the blue tits with their azure
markings are, of course, charm
itself, but set against our vivid
peregrine good looks, how can the
native be expected to compete?
the common garden bullfinch, the
diminutive sparrow et al... all are
sweet english roses, but oh! how
their soft and sweet prettiness dulls
when outdazzled by our impossibly
fine emerald plumage. crueller
parakeets among us quip that they
are green with envy but, of course,
that is the very last thing they are,
poor colourless loves.
“ah, but how kind one’s human
admirers are, offering little tidbits
here, words of soft encouragement
there... it is enough to turn a humble
bird’s head.
“but, you see, my set has long
become accustomed to the awe
and wonder afforded us, not only on
account of the gods having smiled
so beneficently upon our looks (for
which, merci mon dieu), but because
we are, it would seem, something of a
mystery in this pocket of town we call
our own.
“legend abounds as to our
hallowed presence along the treelined
boulevards of west london
(where else but the stately avenues
of kensington gardens would do for
our perching posts? the royals are
The LONDONER
so appreciative of splendour). it is
even rumoured that we were first set
free from a vile-sounding cramped
confinement on carnaby street by
one Mr hendrix. he’s a musician
of note i am told, though i confess
his thunderous and discordant
noise seems frightful to my ears,
accustomed as i am to my own more
mellifluous melodies (though i did
once catch an impertinent child
describe my harmonious lullaby as
a ‘squawk’. the beast was on the
receiving end of a small – but very
definite – peck on the nose for such
outrageous impudence).
“My own preferred thesis is
that we, as many believe, fled the
isleworth set of the african Queen
in 1951 where we had, no doubt,
been cast in a starring role to lend
a bona fide flavour of exoticism to
the motion picture. and who, after
all, could blame us for voting with
our wings when billed second to
humphrey bogart and katharine
hepburn? what are hollywood
stardom, costume departments and
thespian antics to our finery and
splendid feathers of emerald?
“the genealogists among us say
that we originated in the foothills of
the himalayas, where long sultry
summers give way to forbidding and
perishing winters (worse even, i am
given to understand, than a chilly
January on the serpentine. i shudder
at the unhappy thought).
“luckily, there is a great sea fog
of oblivion between then and there
and here and now – and not, i hasten
to add, simply for one’s self. how
would the sweet promenaders of
kensington et environs cope through
the interminable and dreary winters
with not so much as a glimpse of one
to cheer and warm with thoughts
of summer and frivolity? they do
simply flock to us, and it is just too
touching to think how we should
be missed...”
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 11

y
george!
12
Meet the young
georgians – led by
oliver gerrish and
sophie edMonds – who
delight in all things
18th-century

WORDS JAMES HULME PHOTOGRAPH MARCO WALKER
WORDS JAMES HULME
PHOTOGRAPH MARCO WALKER
BLAST FROM THE PAST
The Young Georgians, Fitzroy Square
On a crisp morning the drawing
room on the piano nobile overlooking
fitzroy square resounds with
laughter. seven friends clamber into
silk hose, saucy bodices and dandies’
jabots – historical garb approximating
our 21st-century idea of 18th-century
fashions. the group then composes
itself to be photographed under
reynolds’ famous portrayal of that
notorious figure, lady worsley, in her
brazen scarlet riding habit.
“it’s undeniably escapism,” says
the young georgians’ chairman
oliver gerrish, dapperly dressed in
a tailcoat rivalling that of the portrait
over the chimney piece. “the idea is
to bring light-hearted appreciation to
a period that defined itself by fun
and extravagance.”
the group is an offshoot of the
parent conservation charity that, since
the 1930s, has been championing
georgian architecture.
gerrish re-established the younger
membership circle in 2002 to corral
like-minded admirers of all things
18th-century. but while he describes
himself as a self-trained architectural
historian, it would be folly to assume
the group was a coalition of fusty
historians. humour, not pedantry, is
the esprit de corps behind their visits
to historical sites and gatherings at six
fitzroy square for music and dancing.
gerrish, whose day job is as a
countertenor, has his own take on
the group’s distinguished ancestry:
“when it was established it was a very
social set – people like John betjeman
rubbed shoulders with nancy Mitford,
so a high order of upper-crust
The LONDONER
“when the
GeorGIan Group
was establIshed,
a hIGh order of
upper-crust
InsoucIance
reIGned”
insouciance reigned”.
the serious undertow which binds
the group is its ongoing education in
art and architecture from 1700 to 1840.
Members’ tours range from those of
grand piles like renishaw hall (seat of
the literary sitwell clan) to meticulously
restored soho town houses. their
appetite for the authentic, and an
extensive contacts list, often takes
them to places inaccessible to the
public gaze, adding to the appeal of
membership, which now numbers
more than 350.
at our shoot, most of the mirthful
dialogue is innuendo around the
various props employed. fop-about-
town henry conway makes the most
of the opportunity afforded by a
random twig he is delighted to have
identified as pussy willow. sophie
edmonds, a driving force behind
the movement, betrays her day job
credentials as a performer and event
planner in the arch manner in which
she doles out tea from an urn.
edmonds and gerrish reach
the height of their powers at their
townhouse parties, where themes
have included royalist, anarchist
and hellfire. the latter’s passion for
historic architecture has already
brimmed over into television
appearances, and he makes no secret
of his ambition to do more presenting;
it seems only a matter of time.
a new generation of informed
counter-cultural english amateurs
steps up to the plate.
georgiangroup.org.uk; follow oliver’s
blog at archmusicman.blogspot.co.uk
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 13

2 - 1 0 C o lv i l l e m e w s w 1 1 . 2 7 B r u to n s t r e e t w 1
t e m p e r l e y l o n d o n . C o m
TEMPERLEY LONDON BRIDGE AD.indd 1 22/03/2013 16:43

PHOTOGRAPHS © CHRISTOPHER MOORE LIMITED (trading as Catwalking) 2012
Balmain
S/S 2013
Moschino
S/S 2013
Sheila wool slippers by
Charles Philip Shanghai,
£113; net-a-porter.com
Christian Dior
S/S 2013
Stripe-print knitted
dress by Balenciaga,
£385; matches.com
Marc Jacobs
S/S 2013
Dolce & Gabbana
S/S 2013
Nadia ring set by
Dara Ettinger, £91;
mywardrobe.com
The Hong Kong bag,
£455; millimillu.com
Multicolour stripe dress
by Dolce & Gabbana,
£850; browns.com
Trend REPORT
walK
THE lINE
monochrome or multi-hued, wide or slim,
horizontal or vertical... stripes are big fashion
news for summer. how will you wear yours?
Border stripe silk
dress by Raoul,
£319; matches.com
Irene skirt by Tommy
Hilfiger, £110;
houseoffraser.co.uk
Cobalt and Chalk Eva bag
by Lulu Guinness, £350;
houseoffraser.co.uk
Ed’s Pick: Leigh
Maillot swimsuit by Lisa
Marie Fernandez, £352;
matches.com
Stripe platform sandal
by Moschino, £492;
mywardrobe.com
Espadrilles by
Soludos, £41;
harveynichols.com
Shirt dress in yellow
by Sea NY, £310;
oxygenboutique.com
Acetate sunglasses
by Sheriff and
Cherry, £85;
harveynichols.com
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 15

Online store www.richardjames.co.uk Shop +44 (0)207 434 0605 Bespoke +44 (0)207 287 9645

PHOTOGRAPH CHARLIE GRAY
Two-tone corduroy
waistcoat by Ann
Demeulemeester, £350;
farfetch.com
Harrison shoes,
£245;
paulsmith.co.uk
Yellow V-neck
jumper, £109;
paulsmith.co.uk
Bright canvas wash
bag by Ted Baker,
£45; tedbaker.com
Pink Herringbone
Birdy scarf, £60;
paulsmith.co.uk
The Night Archetype
cufflinks by Samuel
Gassmann, £80;
wolfandbadger.com
Herringbone linen-blend
trousers by Maison
Martin Margiela, £250;
matches.com
Hackett
S/S 2013
Trend REPORT
urban
candy
menswear Channels the Great Gatsby with
power pastels and sorbet shades. any Colour
Goes – as lonG as it’s pale and interestinG
Monty duffle zipped wax
hood by Gloverall, £295,
gloverall.com
Two-button
blazer by
Zegna, £945;
farfetch.com
STYLE TALk wiTh... JonAThAn BAiLEY
The Broadchurch actor on Speedos vs trunks, rigorous dance moves and exposing his cartoon pants
Sharp tailoring or
slouchy casuals?
i’m a slouchy casuals
man at heart.
Sandals or pumps?
a full-bodied sandal is a
50th birthday present so
until then i’ll most likely
pull out the pumps.
Espadrilles in charcoal
by Soludos, £25;
houseoffraser.co.uk
Seaside stripe
cotton jacket, £420;
nicolefarhi.com
Satin twill bow tie
by Paul Smith, £65;
harveynichols.com
Speedos or trunks?
speedos in the gym pool
only. speedos in public
or at a pool party is, and
should be, recognised
as anti-social behaviour.
Beachwear or BAFTA-
wear?
beachwear, every time.
Hackett
S/S 2013
Mother-of-pearl
button cufflinks by
Turnbull & Asser, £135;
matchesfashion.com
Fashion triumph?
an oversized Culture
Club-style jacket.
Fashion disaster?
the time i wore a d&G
suit and split the crotch
on the dance floor.
i was wearing cartoon
pants underneath.
Tailored
coloured shorts,
£135; brownsfashion.com
Richard James
S/S 2013
How’s the summer
shaping up?
really well! i have two
festivals and a half
marathon in the diary,
plus i’ll be in othello
at the national theatre
from april. i may even
sneak in a holiday.
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 17

MARYLEBONE TOTES
•
ASPINALOFLONDON.COM
•
0845 052 6900
ASPINALMARYLEBONE_Bridge_Apr13.indd 1 23/04/2013 09:48:34

WORDS IMOGEN THORNTON
Fashion
FORwaRd
From tribal jewellery to bold arm candy...
three young designers to watch
POPPY SEXTON-WAINWRIGHT
ANd LAuREN SkERRITT
It is hard to believe it’s just
four years since this clever
duo met at university. It
was there that they first
recognised in one another
a simpatico approach to
design and, more specifically,
lingerie. They initially put
their instant rapport to use
as part of a college marketing
assignment, judiciously
registering the name of their
then theoretical business
along the way. And thus
Beautiful Bottoms was born.
That the brand, which
officially launched during the
Equestrian style
dominates at
Danielle Foster
girls’ finals, is now stocked
in Selfridges, Fenwicks and
Anthropologie is testament to
their drive, and the fact that
it was a long-held aspiration;
Skerritt dreamt as a child of
owning a lingerie business,
as was evidenced when she
uncovered a diary in which
she’d outlined her earlier
ambitions. For 2013, the pair
have added beach loungewear
to the covetable collection.
We say: Delicate fabrics,
arresting prints.
They say: “We’re inspired by a
mixture of nature, retro print
archives and travel.”
Beautiful Bottoms
combines pretty shapes
with bold prints
Buy: beautifulbottoms.com dANIELLE fOSTER
No sooner had ex-model Danielle Foster
graduated from the London College of Fashion
than she was asked to produce five bags
for Charlie Le Mindu’s SS11 show. It’s been
onwards and upwards ever since, with further
collaborations in the pipeline with Charlie May
for her AW13 collection.
We say: The stuff of instant obsession, her
bags draw inspiration from the 1940s and,
more curiously, equestrian bridle wear.
She says: “My style is relaxed, monotone and
I’d like to think there is an element of elegance.”
Buy: daniellefoster.co.uk
fIONA PAXTON
For Fiona Paxton, the fashion gene reared
its head early. “From the age of seven I kept
scrap books of my favourite catwalk reports.”
Armed with a surfeit of references, she
began her training in textiles before an
experimentation with jewellery saw her
change direction. It’s a move the fashion
elite has rejoiced ever since; Kate Moss
and Rihanna, among others, are fans.
Paxton’s SS13 collection is inspired by
cloud-watching and features iridescent
stones and laser-cut metals.
We say: A compelling mélange of the
tribal and contemporary.
She says: “Bjork’s fusion of fantasy and
modernity has been a big influence.”
Buy: fionapaxton.com
Designer NOTES
Fiona Paxton’s artful
fusion of the delicate
and the bold
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 19

Made in england
There is nothing so beautiful as a thing well made
www.marshallandstewart.com
0800 311 8199
Crawford Street, London w1H 2Hn
M&S BRIDGE AD - 230X300-APRIL MAY.indd 1 21/03/2013 10:05

EDITED BY ISKA LUPTON PHOTOGRAPH JASON RUSSELL, BASESTUDIOS.CO.UK
BLOCK
PARTY
Turn up The volume wiTh
brighT block colours and
go as bold as you dare
Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner
in Industrial by MAC, £14;
maccosmetics.co.uk
Matte/Glossy Nail
Polish in Claire,
£11; makeupstore.se
Crème Eye Liner in
Cobalt by Laura Mercier,
£18.50; harrods.com
SPA SPotLIGHt: two of the best facials
Creamy Matte Lip Colour
in Jenna by Bobbi Brown,
£18; bobbibrown.co.uk
RIVER WELLBEING SPA
Hotel Rafayel, SW11
What: elemis bespoke facial. 60 mins.
Treatment: The ultimate combatant of
dried-out skin. a rehydrating rose petal
cleanser and a ginseng towel prepare
the skin deliciously for a papaya enzyme
peel. a vitamin-c mask and pro-collagen
marine cream then nourish and plump.
Results: perfectly refreshed peachy skin.
Book it: 020 7801 3610; hotelrafayel.com
Matte/Glossy Nail
Polish in Nebil, £11;
makeupstore.se
Beauty HOT LIST
Nail Varnish in
Cocktail Dress, £9;
ciate.co.uk
Mad Mad World Duo
Eyeshadow by Nars,
£25; narscosmetics.co.uk
USHVANI
Cadogan Gardens, SW3
What: signature facial. 90 mins.
Treatment: inspired by asian healing
techniques, a sweet-smelling emulsion
prepares the skin for a rehydrating layer
of coconut and kemiri butter. an hibiscus
and rice scrub invigorates, then an
hibiscus and kemiri mask is applied.
Results: radiant glow, defined cheekbones.
Book it: 020 7730 2888; ushvani.com
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 21

22
EVENTS
GUIDE
From
20/21 INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR,
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
9-12 MAY
20-21intartfair.com
get an eyeful of eclectic works of art hailing from
across the globe, and from the past two centuries, at
the crucible of creative talent that is the rca. now in its
seventh year, expect a miscellany of matisse and miró,
Blake and Braque, hockney and hirst, alongside pieces
from emerging talents. prices range from a few hundred
pounds to many thousands. Admission £8.
CHARLESTON MASTERCLASSES, CLARIDGE’S
13 MAY
Book at charleston@claridges.co.uk
Feather boas, sequined headbands and drop-waist
dresses at the ready: claridge’s legendary ballroom
opens its elegant doors to fledgling flappers poised to
be schooled in the fine art of the charleston. under the
expert tutelage of the Bees’ knees dance instructors,
neophytes will channel the Jazz age via the dance’s
brilliantly named steps, including the bunny hop, the
scarecrow and the fish tail. £125 per person.
the centenary oF a horticultural institution
to the retrospective oF a musical legend, here’s
our round-up oF the hottest summer tickets
LANA DEL REY,
HAMMERSMITH
APOLLO
19 MAY
hammersmithapollo.com
music’s most polarising
star disembarks at
hammersmith as part of
her european tour. the
film-noir-loving, self-styled
modern-day nancy sinatra
is here to promote the
Paradise edition of her Born
to Die album. Wave lighters
along to Video Games or
just try and catch a glimpse
of the famous pout. £27.50.
CHELSEA FRINGE,
VARIOUS VENUES
18 MAY - 9 JUNE
chelseafringe.com
the chelsea Fringe is back
for its second year
to spread the horticultural
love. the festival will
celebrate a plethora of
gardening initiatives, from
community projects to
guerilla planting.
RHS CHELSEA CENTENARY
CONCERT,
THE ROYAL HOSPITAL
24 MAY
rhs.org.uk
the rhs chelsea Flower show and opera
holland park – two legendary bastions of
local culture – come together to mark 100
years of the annual horticultural institution,
which is, for many, the highlight of the
social calendar. Fittingly, the performance
will focus on the floral, so expect to be
delighted by The Flower Duet from delibes’
lakmé and The Flower Song from carmen,
alongside old favourites from puccini, verdi
and Bizet. £59 for RHS members; £65 for non.
BNP PARIBAS TENNIS CLASSIC,
HURLINGHAM CLUB
18-22 JUNE
bnpparibastennisclassic.com
strawberries and cream? check.
champagne? check. exquisitely manicured
lawn, plus world-class tennis players? check
and check. soak up Bnp paribas’ exclusive
garden party atmosphere – without any of
Wimbledon’s tiresome queues.
VIP packages start at £259 per person.

PhotograPhs Bill Childish_setting 0ff ii_2008; Jean Miro_ConsaCre aux CeraMiques MonuMentales; swan lake iMage © PatriCk Baldwin; alBuM
Cover shoot for aladdin sane, design By Brian duffy and Celia Philo, Make uP By Pierre la roChe, 1973, © duffy arChive
MILES FOR MISSING
PEOPLE, CLAPHAM
COMMON
25 MAY
missingpeople.org.uk
dust down your dormant
running shoes and join
the hordes on clapham
common for the 20th
annual 10km run in
aid of missing people,
a charity which helps
recover those who
have disappeared and
provides support to the
families and friends
left behind.
MINT POLO IN
THE PARK,
HURLINGHAM CLUB
7-9 JUNE
polointheparklondon.com
Britain’s former polo hQ will
resound with thundering
hooves as the world’s
finest players converge
for the fifth year running.
expect tiki bars and pimm’s
buses – quite the most
quintessentially english way
to kick off summer.
Admission £25.
MOTCOMB STREET PARTY
26 JUNE
motcombstreetparty.co.uk
the motcomb street traders association knows how to
throw a summer party. expect to be dazzled by dJs and
street entertainers, win auction prizes donated by local
traders and boutiques, and enjoy all the food and drink
you can shake a stick at. even better, the street party has
a philanthropic cause at heart, with money raised being
distributed among worthy charities, including, this year,
the household cavalry Foundation.
SWAN LAKE IN-THE-
ROUND, ROYAL ALBERT
HALL
12-23 JUNE
royalalberthall.com;
ballet.org.uk
“oooh” and “aaah” at the
english national Ballet’s
most exquisite production,
as derek deane’s Swan
Lake in-the-round comes to
the royal albert hall. the
lavish spectacular will feature
120 dancers all pirouetting
picturesquely along to
tchaikovsky’s famous score,
which will be played by 80
musicians. From £10.
Events GUIDE
THE SUN WALK,
BATTERSEA PARK
30 JUNE
walkthewalk.org
live music, circus shows, dancing and
delicious grub in a parkland setting…
this cocktail of activity would befit any
summer festival. But in addition to the
entertainment, Battersea park also plays
host to the sun Walk, a series of fun events
to raise money for the fight against breast
cancer. participants are encouraged to
don brightly coloured bras, and can sign
up for the 5km or 10km events, or – for the
truly intrepid – a half-marathon.
DAVID BOWIE IS, V&A
UNTIL 11 AUGUST
vam.ac.uk
no performer is more enigmatic than david Bowie. his refusal to be pigeonholed
is almost as legendary as the music itself, but now, after four decades,
we can begin to explore the mind of the great chameleon. the v&a hosts
the first retrospective of his work, taking in his myriad artistic collaborations,
iconic outfits, album sleeve artwork and live performances. Find all of his
guises – thin White duke, Ziggy stardust et al – under one roof.
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 23

24
If Olivia Grant wasn’t so likeable, she’d
be enviable. Regarded as one of the most versatile
and talented actresses of her generation, she’s
also been signed by the Storm model agency
and is a regular face in many of the world’s most
glamorous fashion and lifestyle magazines.
Some of which, she’s just confided, she writes
for as well. But before it looks as if she’s going to
be one of those annoyingly talented polymaths,
there’s a simple explanation as to why the
Oxford-educated English graduate moonlights
as a columnist for InStyle et al.
“My journalism originally came about from
wanting to thank people – designers or others
who had helped me – and whether it’s travel
or fashion, I find it a way of talking about
interesting experiences that I’m fortunate
enough to have had.”
In that self-deprecating statement you
have the essence of Olivia Grant. Rather
than signing up to the self-aggrandising
“celeb” code of journalism where every
ghost-written word is an empty piece of
propaganda, her intent is to act as a conduit
to thank those who’ve aided her in what’s
proving to be a remarkable career. It’s
hard to think of many others who would
be so willing to subsume their egos, but
then Grant isn’t like her peers. In demand
on both sides of the Atlantic, she has
managed to nevertheless remain modest
in a business which tends to see its stars
become anything but.
We meet in a Kensal Green
photography studio, where Grant
is being shot for this magazine.
A complete pro, she arrives sans
entourage, and, when we break for
a chat, she’s a warm and articulate
interviewee, despite having been
at the studio for hours.
She has just appeared in the first
episode of the new series of the
Granted
an audience
ShE’S An OxfORd GRAduAtE, OpERA SInGER, BAllEt dAncER,
MOdEl, cOluMnISt And ActRESS – And thOROuGhly nIcE tO
BOOt. WAtch Out hOllyWOOd, hERE cOMES OlIvIA GRAnt, SAyS AlExAndER lARMAn

PHOTOGRAPHS ADAM FUSSELL HAIR AND MAKE-UP MICHAEL GRAY STYLIST HOPE LAWRIE
OLIVIA WEARS BLACK CHIFFON DRESS BY NINA RICCI; PALE PINK LACE DRESS BY DOLCE AND GABBANA
cover STORY
BrIdGe MaGaZine 25

26
Inspector Morse prequel, Endeavour,
in which she plays the “likeable” helen
cartwright, who’s linked to the murder victim.
She describes it as “a tremendously fun
whodunit… It was such an honour to work
with two actors of the calibre of Shaun Evans
[as the young Morse] and Roger Allam [as his
superior dI fred thursday]. they approached
each episode very much as a film, which really
fed into the whole process.”
It was also a chance for Grant to revisit
Oxford, her university city, where the series
was filmed, and which was a formative place:
“I still remember my reviews from the Oxford
student papers. they were such a big deal
at the time.” She turned up to read English,
wanting ultimately to be an opera singer,
and only started acting to meet people. One
thing led to another. the alternative was to
be a barrister, but, as she puts it, “my English
tutor once asked me, ‘do you have any actual
interest in law?’ and I had to say no, realising
I’d answered that particular question!”
Oxford has produced a number of Britain’s
most exciting young actors of late – her
contemporaries included Alice Eve, harry
lloyd and felicity Jones – and she claims
that “it’s amazing for actors, all the more so
because nobody actually studies drama there,
it’s all done by the students themselves.”
Grant’s first break came shortly after she
left university, when she was cast in the bigbudget
fantasy film Stardust. “I had to audition
as a boy in a woman’s body, which went well,
and then I was offered the part. One of my costars
gave me a copy of Ulysses on set, and
said ‘Read this instead! don’t be an actor!’”
thankfully, she ignored his advice, and rose to
prominence as the compassionate aristocrat,
lady Adelaide, in Lark Rise to Candleford.
her pre-Raphaelite looks and upper-crust
voice have seen her cast as gentry ever since
– something she’s perfectly happy about. “I
like to do transformative things, and walking
into other worlds is always fun. I don’t worry
about being typecast, I’m just pleased to be
working, and it’s nice to get more and more
varied roles.” She pauses and grins. “plus, as
a lady, you get all the best costumes!”
Since then, Grant’s appeared in everything
from Poirot (“david Suchet’s an inspiration
– and much smaller than you think!”) to the
Rhys Ifans-starring howard Marks biography
Mr Nice. She’s not afraid to admit that her
major influences growing up were Merchant
Ivory films, specifically A Room with a View –
something that once got her into trouble with a
casting director. “She said, ‘If you’re going for
that helena Bonham carter vibe, my advice
would be, don’t!’ So I left feeling rubbish, but
I’ve spent the past five years doing period
drama, so I guess that proves people can be
wrong about these things!”
She’s admirably clear-sighted about
working in a notoriously fickle industry. “It’s
an honour to get cast in anything, especially
in America. Our traditions of acting are really
different. Over here, most actors start slightly
older, and do more theatre. Over there, they’re
scarily young and can’t really get involved in
the theatre world, because there isn’t one apart
from in new york.” not that she’s complaining,
especially given the American love of British
period drama. “they love downton in the
States. It’s ridiculous! they’re really respectful
of costume drama, which is great because,
comparatively, our budgets are far lower
than theirs.”
next up are a couple of films, romantic drama
Copenhagen and psychological thriller Gozo
(“I keep getting sent scripts that are named
after places”), but she’s got a surprising wish
for the future. “What I’d really like is to do a
show in which I hold a gun and run a lot. I used
to dance so I try and keep physically fit, and it
would be brilliant to use that in a role.”
Olivia Grant: actress, writer, renaissance
woman – and the next Sigourney Weaver,
if she has her way. Judging by her career
to date, I wouldn’t bet against it.

cover STORY
BrIdGe MaGaZine 27

14
28
FIrst cIty
From gas lamps to public loos – london’s
streets abound with historical precedents
10
17
18
16
1. First urban underground
In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway between
Paddington and Farringdon became the world’s
first urban underground passenger railway.
2. First electric telegraph
In 1816, Francis Ronalds built the first
telegraph in Hammersmith to send messages.
Though the Admiralty rejected it as unnecessary
at the time, Ronalds was knighted in 1870.
3. First gas works
Founded in 1812, the first-ever works at Great
Peter Street supplied gas to Westminster. By
1815 it had 200 miles of piping in place. Today,
there are still 1,600 gas lamps in central London.
8
7
11
4. First traFFic lights
The Industrial Revolution threw London’s streets
into chaos. As a result, the city’s first set of traffic
lights appeared in 1868 off Parliament Square.
5. First television
In 1925, John Logie Baird first showed moving
silhouette images on television at Selfridges.
6. First london marathon
Chris Brasher championed the London Marathon
in 1981, when more than 7,000 runners started
from Greenwich Park.
7. First london bus
The first bus to have a petrol engine was run
2
13
by the Motor Traction Company between
Kensington and Victoria in 1899.
8. First petrol-powered cabs
Petrol-powered cabs were introduced in
1903. By 1907, the fitting of taximeters was
compulsory as cabs became known as “taxicabs.”
9. First Fingerprinting at ucl
In an 1888 paper, Francis Galton, founder
of UCL’s Galton Laboratory, created a model
of fingerprint analysis which is still used in
forensic science today.
10. First movie
The first moving pictures developed on celluloid

1
9
3
4
film were made in Hyde Park in 1889 by William
Friese Greene, a British inventor.
11. First red telephone box
Beneath the entrance arch at the Royal
Academy is the 1929 prototype red telephone
box, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s triumphant entry
into a Royal Fine Art Commission competition.
12. First coFFee house
London’s first coffee house opened in 1652 in
Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, a
servant of Daniel Edwards who imported coffee.
13. First daily newspaper
The first London daily newspaper originated
19
12
on Fleet Street in 1702. The Daily Courant was
published by Edward Mallet, surviving until 1735.
14. mozart composes First symphony
Mozart was eight when he first came to London
to perform. 180 Ebury Street marks the spot
where he composed his first symphony in 1764.
15. First public loo
The first on-street convenience was a “gents” at
95 Fleet Street, which opened in February 1852.
16. First tea shop
In 1702, Thomas Twining opened a tea shop on the
Strand when tea was first imported to England,
whereupon it became all the rage in high society.
5
London FACTS
15
17. First logo
The tube’s world-famous logo, the “roundel”, first
appeared in 1908.
18. First tube escalator
In 1911, the first moving staircase was
demonstrated at Earl’s Court station. There were
two escalators which linked the Piccadilly Line
platforms with those of the District Line.
19. First sandwich
The first record of the word “sandwich” appeared
in author Edward Gibbon’s journal in 1762.
Gibbon recorded his surprise at seeing the
noblemen at The Cocoa Tree, Pall Mall, supping on
sandwiches and strong punch.
6
BrIdGe MAGAZINE 29

30
Society photographer
Cecil Beaton on the
other side of the lens
eautiful
damned
As the 1920s roAred on, there emerged A set of irreverent And witty
louche-living AristocrAts And pArty people known As the bright young
people. nAncy Alsop chArts their rise to infAmy – And their decline
PHOTOGRAPHS CORBIS; GETTY

In the summer of 1929, the residents
of rutland gate would, upon peering down
through their elegant sash windows, have
been aghast. for in the street below, a motley
crew of mostly twentysomethings had begun
to assemble in varying states of disarray, lured
to this pocket of south kensington for one of
rosemary sanders’ parties.
while this tableau might have been an
all-too-familiar feature of what we have
retrospectively come to term as the “roaring
twenties”, more unusual was the mode of
transport by which the revellers arrived. they
came in prams and baby carriages, and their
dress, far from couture, was more befitting of
the nursery. what the neighbours would not
have glimpsed – no doubt to their eternal relief
– was that once out of gaze, the merrymakers
were provided with an assortment of dolls and
bottles, props to be frolicked with inside adultsized
playpens, while the nursery beakers
contained not so much milk as gin.
so far, so fetish, but this was not, contrary
to appearances, a gathering of oddballs on
the fringes of society. the party was attended
by such well-known scene-dwellers as the
actress brenda dean paul,
along with some of the
best-connected and most
louche-living aristocrats of
this, the Jazz Age. for this
was the notorious second
childhood party, and the
determinedly frivolous
set of attendees were, as
they were labelled by the
incredulous yet transfixed
press at the time, the
bright young people.
but if the second
childhood party attracted
disapproval, it was
hardly the first of its kind
to do so. if anything, the
quickly bored bright
young people (in whose
studiedly flippant parlance,
much was deemed “too,
too tiresome”) saw it
as marking a decline
in the ingenuity of their
legendary japes. its
attendees considered it
an asininely deliberate
attempt at the kind of
American actress
and bonne vivante
Tallulah Bankhead
Flapper on the cover
of Life in 1926
FEATURE
parties which had
previously defined their
movement.
it was on precisely 26
July 1924 that the set made
its debut in the eyes of The Daily
Mail and its readers. the paper’s
headline announced them unambiguously
with the words: “midnight chase in london.
50 motorcars. the bright young people”;
they were thence set to be near permanently
present within its pages for the next few years.
the group that came into startling focus on
this day in 1924 was a band of young society
people who, up until then, would have been
habitués of the more formal coming-out balls.
now they ran amok on the streets of the capital
in a sort of drunken treasure hunt, which
culminated in breakfast at norfolk house, st
James’s. the heady mélange of celebrity –
including the American star tallulah bankhead
– with glamorous aristocrats made for the stuff of
instant legend, particularly amid the landscape
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 31

32
Stephen Tennant, “the
last professional beauty”
aMong TheiR
anTiCs was The
oRChesTRaTion
of a fake aRT
exhiBiTion By
a new, enTiReLy
spuRious,
TaLenT
of doom and depression that had followed the
first world war. their shingled hair, ebullience,
fast-living, defining irreverence, pursuit of
hedonism for its own sake and unmistakable
clipped patter provided a source of prurient
horror and fascination in equal measure.
Among their many antics over the years, was
the orchestration of a fake art exhibition by an
hitherto unknown (and entirely spurious) talent.
it featured pastiches of picassos designed to
tease those pseuds whose earnest reverence
for the genre made the bright young things
howl with laughter (it should be noted that
winston churchill dismissed the show as “a lot
of bloody rubbish”).
there was an impersonation party in brook
street, to which many of the bright young things
came dressed as one another – testament to
their now towering infamy. And, perhaps most
fabled of all, was the bath and bottle party of 1928,
for which guests were issued with an invitation
from mrs plunkett greene, miss ponsonby, mr
edward gathorne-hardy and mr brian howard.
this requested the pleasure of their guests’
company at 11pm at st george’s swimming
baths, buckingham palace road on 13 July, with
the instruction to: “please wear a bathing suit
and bring a bath towel and a bottle.” reports
of this faintly scandalous night in the following
day’s papers were of wild abandon, cocktails
and brazen misbehaviour, involving dancing in
little more than underwear to live bands while
heavily under the influence of alcohol. it was, in
all its flagrant glory, considered the apotheosis
of the bright young person’s party.
so who was this high-born band of
revellers that came to symbolise a decade of
decadence? chief among them was the effete
stephen tennant, a beautiful and androgynous
figure, whose aestheticism, it seems, was in
evidence from the age of just four, when, upon
running through the family’s wiltshire estate, he
stopped in his tracks to admire “the blossom
of a pansy”. this predilection for pleasure
afforded by the exquisite never left him – his
hair was frequently dusted with gold, his face
adorned with full make-up. he was, in the words
of osbert sitwell, “the last professional beauty”.
it is no great leap then, to imagine how
tennant came to inspire two effeminate literary
creations penned by his contemporaries and
friends nancy mitford and evelyn waugh. for
the former he provided the material for the
ever-enchanting, ever self-absorbed and
unabashedly vain cedric hampton in
Love in a Cold Climate, while for
the latter, he was the blueprint
for the almost dangerously
charming sebastian flyte
in Brideshead Revisited.
that tennant’s
vocation was the pursuit
of beauty is reinforced
by the fact that when
not found decorated to
perfection at parties, his
fragility routinely forced

him to stay in bed, sometimes for a month at a time.
this spelled a frustrating time for siegfried
sassoon, with whom he conducted an affair
through the 1920s and 1930s. the first world
war poet and pacifist was in equal parts
intoxicated by this graceful butterfly of a man,
while reviling his set for their blind frivolity
against the growing seriousness of the political
backdrop. the older man’s innate puritanism
saw him entreat the younger to absent himself
from the circus of inane revelry and his starring
role in the gossip pages – a task which proved
futile. in the face of such disapproval, tennant
dropped sassoon abruptly.
central also to the action was the
ever-present elizabeth ponsonby,
daughter of labour mp Arthur
ponsonby and his wife dorothea,
both of whose diaries and letters
attest to the overwhelming and,
at times, hopeless concern they
felt for their much-loved child’s
welfare. elizabeth lived beyond
her means always, worked as an
actress occasionally and, towards
the end of her life, as a nightclub
hostess. her general attitude to life
was to derive as much hedonistic
pleasure from it as possible, while
all the time being subsidised
by her father’s modest income.
famous essentially for going to
parties, she is said to have been
the life and soul of these frequent
gatherings, her tragedy lying in the
fact that she couldn’t acknowledge
when the party was over. married
and divorced, the subject of many
column inches, the once ebullient
but later penniless elizabeth
descended into alcoholism, a
condition which proved fatal
when she died before reaching
her fortieth birthday, a sort of
cautionary tale of what it is to try
and hang on to the brightness of
youth while blindly shunning life’s
more serious repercussions.
meanwhile, the eton- and
oxford-educated poet brian
howard, who was notable for his
quick temper, licentiousness and
the absence of an actual body of work, also fell
into alcoholism, eventually committing suicide
over the accidental death of a lover. the
actress and it-girl brenda dean paul’s fate too
was sealed the first time she was introduced to
morphine, succumbing eventually as she did to
a full-blown heroin addiction.
there existed, however, those bright young
people who didn’t fail to notice that the music
had stopped with the onset of the 1930s.
interestingly, the more serious-minded of the
set tended to be those who never felt entirely
part of it, whose backgrounds were inescapably
middle-class rather than aristocratic. evelyn
waugh, for example, was a hard-drinking
Evelyn Waugh
young man who frequented the parties but
remained on the group’s periphery. but while
he partook, he was also prolific. rather than
spend his days waiting for the next byt stunt,
waugh used his time to write, drawing on the
extraordinary figures of the social circle as
inspiration, his detachment adding to his ability
to see it for what it was. As mentioned, stephen
tennant provided him with the ingredients
for sebastian flyte and brian howard
for Anthony blanche, while the
quickly penned Vile Bodies is
seen as the definitive account
of those heady years.
cecil beaton, meanwhile, spent his youth
longing to be taken up as a bright young thing,
and was beside himself with delight when
the invitations to country estates rolled in. but
while the names of many whose summons so
thrilled him now languish in obscurity, beaton’s
is celebrated, with v&A exhibitions devoted to
him decades after his death. the photographer
realised, after all, that while parties were a delight,
they were also a way of making connections.
the consummate networker, beaton outgrew
the frolics and set his eyes on America, where
he made his name at Vogue. back on british turf
he practically became the court snapper.
Another outsider was tom driberg, the
FEATURE
journalist who affected to be a bright young thing,
attending the myriad of parties, while nipping off
to the telephone at intervals to report on them for
his newspaper column. while it may have earned
him a certain mistrust by his peers (though they
were often simply too intoxicated to notice), this
early work ethic stood him in good stead for his
later career as chairman of the labour
party, and crossword setter
at private eye.
the anomalous
mitfords meanwhile,
though high born,
never conformed
to anything in their
lives, not even
the frequently
doomed trajectory
of the bright
young aristocratic
thing. nancy was a
keen observer of all
aspects of life (family,
parties, la vie française)
and scribbled it all down
for the delight of her readers,
before finally absenting herself
and living in paris. in the meantime,
her sister diana spent the 1930s
lunching with hitler and rallying
for her husband oswald mosley,
the leader of the british union of
fascists; consequently she spent
much of the war in prison.
for some, the movement was
a springboard for success and
for others its excesses spelled
destruction. but, like the brightest
of shining stars, its light had to
eventually dwindle and 1929
marked the beginning of the
end. by the 1930s, those who had
moved on were those who would
be its survivors, while those who
insisted on continuing the revelry
found their once exquisite selves
dimmed and ultimately dying.
were they all bright? certainly
they were young, but brightness
can only be ascribed to a handful.
upon which note, we leave the
last word to the irrefutably bright
waugh, who recalls the days of the media circus
in Vile Bodies: “…masked parties, savage
parties, victorian parties, greek parties, russian
parties, circus parties, parties where one had to
dress as somebody else, almost naked parties
in st John’s wood, parties in flats and studios and
houses and ships and hotels and nightclubs, in
windmills and swimming baths, tea parties at
school where one ate muffins and meringues and
tinned crab, parties at oxford where one drank
brown sherry and smoked turkish cigarettes,
dull dances in london and comic dances in
scotland and disgusting dances in paris – all the
succession and repetition of massed humanity…
those vile bodies.”
TheRe
exisTeD Those
BRighT young
peopLe who
DiDn’T faiL To
noTiCe The MusiC
haD sToppeD
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 33

34
ChElsEa GREEn
The small green ThaT’s big on communiTy spiriT
1
Pristine Vespas sit gleaming in an orderly
row, and dotted all around are glamazons in
sunglasses, nonchalantly sipping coffee while
their miniature dogs wait devotedly, eager for
a morsel of discarded biscotti. But, contrary
to the tableau, this isn’t a chic piazza in one of
Rome’s more elegant quarters, but an idyllic
pocket of Chelsea, off the King’s Road (2, 5).
Postcard-pretty Chelsea Green is where
the cognoscenti sashay for groceries – not to
mention accessories – and to shoot the breeze
with their neighbours and the many veteran
shop keepers who dominate its edges. All of
which makes this repository of tucked-away
treasures one of the finest places to idle away
a summer’s day.
Start the morning at the Art Nouveau
entrance to the Michelin Building, where
2
3
4
you’ll find one of London’s most exquisite
flower stalls, presided over by father and
son Jonathan and Max, with help from
freelance florists (on the day we visited,
Penny Philpopps, a flower arranger and piano
teacher), who are happy to advise on the best
blooms, or even dress your home (4 & 12).
Armed with the perfect posy, duck into
the Conran Shop, where manager Jeff
Heading works with Terence Conran’s son
Jasper to ensure that it is an ever-changing
and always-surprising place, full of design
inspiration (6). Think everything from Matthew
Hilton’s impossibly angular furniture to
1950s-reminiscent Vespas…
Next, weighed down by your goodies (we
defy you to resist), it’s time to join the coiffed
beauties on Chelsea Green proper for a
SW3
5
6
caffeine hit. The Pie Man (thepieman.co.uk),
which this year celebrates its 30th birthday,
is laden with all manner of temptations (7 &
14). Shelves groan under the weight of jars of
spiced hedgerow jelly, Brixton honey and, most
nostalgically of all, satisfyingly saccharine
sugar mice. Meanwhile, sausages on the grill
are just the thing to start the day, along with a
delicious cappuccino.
The sartorially minded should make for
Fleur B (fleurb.co.uk) next, where the focus
is on British craftsmanship (9). As well as the
likes of Lara Bohinc, the store stocks its own
eponymous label – printed in Macclesfield and
made up in Wimbledon. The focus is on clothes
that are easy to wear and quick to shop for;
that the owner is a working mother is fully
evident from her style choices.

WORDS ROSE BATEMAN PHOTOGRAPHS ISKA LUPTON
5
After a Clark Kent-style transformation,
nip in for a carrot cake at Finns of Chelsea
Green (finnsofchelseagreen.com – 8), then
tarry at Amaia (amaiakids.co.uk), where it
is de rigueur to be found cooing over all the
miniature outfits that roundly prove how the
French are schooled in effortless chic from the
cradle; diminutive T-bar shoes sit alongside
confections of white and pink (1 & 10).
For groceries, head to Andreas (andreasveg.
co.uk). It’s been open just 10 months but
is already such an established part of the
Chelsea Green scene that the owners greet
regulars like old friends (3). Artichokes,
bunches of carrots, trugs of portobello
mushrooms and intriguingly named veg like
Agretti monks beard spill out on to the street,
making even the least artistically inclined feel
8
7
8
10
11
12
ChelSea Green
iS Where the
CoGnoSCenti
SaShay for
GroCerieS – not
to mention
aCCeSSorieS
inspired to reach for the brushes.
Next, nip next door to The Chelsea
Fishmonger, where the owner Rex Goldsmith
(who quips: “I think my mum was expecting a
Labrador”) is always waiting with ready chat
(13). Here you can snap up lobster, caviar and
a hearty helping of good old-fashioned charm
from Rex, who has been at the shop’s helm for
a decade. Aside from a stint as a fish ‘n‘ chip
shop between the wars, the site has been a
fishmonger since it was built in 1906.
For an extra dose of history, dash across to
Felt (felt-london.com), a diminutive boutique
selling an eclectic array of jewels, from
designer pieces to vintage, with price tags
ranging from £10 to £5,000.
All of this darting about is thirsty work,
so make a beeline for The Markham Inn
9
Street FOCUS
13
14
15
(themarkhaminn.com – 11 & 15), where a
cocktail will whet your appetite before a
visit to fish restaurant Geales (geales.com),
the second incarnation of the Notting Hill
institution. Though a baby compared to its
sister establishment, having opened in 2010,
it is already just as much a neighbourhood
favourite. Here you’ll find a sustainable menu
(Geales only buys from small day boats), and a
strong contingent of regulars.
In the words of Ed Mead, director at D&G’s
Chelsea office: “Chelsea Green is as charming
now as 50 years ago. Fishmonger, green
grocer, cobbler and it passes the milk and
newspaper test. It has always been considered
the area’s epicentre, and given that the sun
shines into it and you can walk to Sloane
Square easily, I can see why.”
BRIDGE MAGAZINE 35

36
HOT SPOT
IT’S A RUSTIC FAMILY AFFAIR OVER IN NOTTING HILL.
DOUGLAS & GORDON STAFF ARE DULY IMPRESSED
The shed
By Emma Charlesworth
and Wendy Younge
The Shed, Notting Hill’s most exciting new
offering, is something of a family affair. Run on
the premises by two Gladwin brothers (Richard
in charge of front of house and Oliver manning
the kitchen), there’s a third on a farm back in
Sussex, which accounts for the provenance of
most of the daily-changing produce (the focus
here is on nose-to-tail cooking). Other food is
grown by small suppliers or foraged on the
farm, while wine (all of it excellent),
hails from the family’s Nutbourne
Vineyard, also in Sussex. In short, The
Shed is as fresh as it gets.
We were greeted by exceptionally
friendly staff and taken to our table in
a prime spot next to the kitchen, from
where we could keep a beady eye on
the cooking. The décor, meanwhile, is
simple and rustic with tractor parts and
barrels used as tables, contributing to
the pervadingly relaxed atmosphere –
just one of many reasons it’s so buzzy.
After a wonderfully fragrant Sussex
Reserve, we chose “mouthfuls” of pork
crackling with apple, venison sausage roll
and an exceptional plate of fennel seed salami
(from the Gladwin farm, naturally) that whetted
our appetite for what was to come.
The menu is divided into “slow” and “fast”
cooking, the idea being that you order several
of each and share. Dishes arrive
as they are ready, so there’s a
constant flow of food. First
up, was the restaurant’s
signature lamb chips; these
tender shredded strips,
slow-cooked then fried
with a crispy
The menu iS
divided inTo
“SloW” and “faST”
cookinG, The idea
beinG you oRdeR
SeveRal of each
and ShaRe
coating, are a must, especially alongside
refreshing beetroot with walnuts and yogurt.
Next for our delectation was pigeon with
butterleaf and Shed bacon – a dangerously
moreish dish with hazelnut and port dressing
– and beautifully rare-grilled lamb with cumin,
red quinoa and cabbage. Goat’s
cheese with hazelnut, honey
and thyme was, meanwhile,
creamy, smooth, and salty
yet sweet.
Perhaps the most
adventurous dish was the
beef heart with straw chips
that came on Richard’s
recommendation; advice
we were delighted to have
followed. The heart was
tender, flavoursome and did
not make us at all squeamish –
in fact, it was the highlight.
The Magnum Vienetta parfait and
buttermilk pannacotta with blood
orange and crumble, were faultless.
We’ll be back. If it’s too busy to get
a table at dinner, do book for lunch –
a meal here is not to be missed.
The Shed, 122 Palace Gardens
Terrace, W8 4RT; 020 7229 4024;

ThRee OF The BesT… JaPanese ResTauRanTs
Yashin
By Rachael Kennerley and Charlotte Perry
On an unseasonably cold night – the kind that makes you yearn for a
bowl of steamed pudding – we were dispatched for sushi. Incongruous
as the fare was with the climate, we needn’t have worried, for the
welcome at Yashin was warm enough to thaw us. We were shown to
our stools at the bar (a prime spot to observe the chefs’ outstanding
knife skills) which, combined with the neon sign on the wall, made us
feel like we were in a New York diner. The illumiated legend declares
the food “without soy sauce”; it’s all about the exceptional fish here.
Surprise followed welcome surprise, as a surfeit of beautiful courses
arrived – a highlight was tuna carpaccio with
truffle-infused ponzu jelly, which left us near
speechless with delight. If forced to pick a
favourite, the monkfish nigiri topped with
jalapeño was a triumph of flavour, while
a miso cappuccino put a nice twist on the
standard soup. Authentic yet original, soy
sauce was indeed unnecessary.
yashin, 1a argyll Road, W8 7db; 020 7938 1536;
yashinsushi.com
nOZOmi
By Alexander Leschallas and Louise Verrall
Nestled alongside beautiful boutiques in the heart of Beauchamp
Place is the award-winning Nozomi. Split over three floors with a
large glass atrium that lends it a vast sense of space, the restaurant
exudes style, with its ambient lighting and minimal design.
It was hard not to be tempted by everything on the
mouthwatering menu, despite the eyewatering prices, but the
waiter recommend we start with some spicy edamame – by far the
most delicious either of us had ever tasted. Also not to be missed is
the signature Nozomi roll – salmon, tuna, yellowtail, prawn, unagi
and yuzu rolled with wasabi tobiko, oba leaf and sesame seeds.
Everything from sushi and sashimi to chargrilled wagyu beef
and black cod is on offer, as well as an enticing array of desserts.
The wine list is also extensive and the fabulous cocktails beautifully
presented – testament to the number of bar awards won. Our only
disappointment was that on the Monday night we visited, several
dishes were not available due to the ever-changing menu.
nozomi, 15 beauchamp Place, SW3 1nQ; 020 7838 1500; nozomi.co.uk
Tsunami
By Lizzie Jones and Katie Fletcher
FOOD
Tsunami is that rare thing: a Clapham institution that has remained as
fresh as the day it opened. Having been shown to our booth – all comfy
leather and romantic ambience – by the ultra-accommodating maître
d’, we kicked off with a lychee mojito and an Aloha Vira, two potent yet
exquisitely light cocktails.
Refreshed, we ravenously eyed up the menu, which is largely intended
for sharing. First came a trio of starters – grilled scallops with masago and
a creamy spicy sauce, flambéed with whisky, served prettily in a flaming
scallop shell; steamed snow crab shumai dumplings, and a tempura
selection of lightly battered shrimp, squid, scallop and black
cod – all executed to perfection. Mains were tender
steamed seabass with sake and soy ponzu and a
melt-in-the-mouth pan-fried duck breast served
We couldn’T
ReSiST The SuShi &
WeRe PReSenTed
WiTh an exQuiSiTe
PlaTe – devouRed
in minuTeS
with green beans. We couldn’t resist the sushi,
and were presented with an exquisite plate of
shrimp tempura rolls – devoured in minutes.
Tsunami, 5-7 voltaire Road, SW4 6dQ;
020 7978 1610; tsunamirestaurant.co.uk
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 37

38
FOOd neWs
sWeeTie daRLinG
These colourful droplets
are chewy, light, freerange
and brought to
you by the fabulous
Meringue Girls. Whipping
up crazy flavours for
parties and picnics, this
merry duo is making
easy work of elevating
the humble meringue to
the height of cool. New
flavours for summer
include manuka honey,
lavender, raspberry, G&T,
champagne and
piña colada. Then there’s
a cookbook in the pipeline,
photographed by David
Loftus. These girls are on
a sugar high.
FeasT YOuR eYes
Spend your Sunday grazing and lazing at
The Bulgari Hotel. And what could be a
better digestif than a movie without moving?
La Dolce Domenica brunch and movie
experience involves a Bloody Mary or glass
of prosecco, fresh fruit, artisan pastries,
Italian cheeses and hams, followed by a sit
down in the hotel’s state-of-the-art cinema to
watch a new release or legendary classic.
every Sunday from 11am; £58pp; la dolce
domenica, The bulgari hotel; 171 knightsbridge,
SW7 1dW; 020 7151 1025; bulgarihotels.com
dinneR FOR TWO
Seasoned pioneer of modern cuisine, Rowley Leigh, has been inviting fellow
chefs into his kitchen throughout the year for a series of one-off culinary
collaborations. Each duo crafts a unique and mind-blowing menu, blending
their cooking styles into one final creation for a room of lucky diners. Book
tickets now for a summer date with Thomasina Miers or a fish feast with Rick
Stein in November. lecafeanglais.co.uk
heRBiVORe
This picket-fence indoor
herb allotment is both
practical and elegant. It
comes with three pots,
drainage trays, herb seeds
and even cute herb scissors
for trimming your crops.
Good thymes.
£29.99; chelseagardener.com
COnQueR The COCOa
Master of the milk, doyenne
of the dark, Amelia Rope
is a London chocolatier
extraordinaire. She uses
only the best-quality cocoa,
and from the flamboyant
packaging to the wacky
flavours (try the pale rose,
dark smoked cashew nut
or lime and sea salt),
it’s the stuff of the very
sweetest dreams.
ameliarope.com
sOFT TOuCh
“Patchett’s makes
perfect” is the hefty yet
irrefutable claim made
by this confectionery
company fluffing up quite
a storm with its gourmet
marshmallows. Patchett’s
stylish packaging and
range of new flavours
(from raspberry to English
lavender) will be coming
soon to a deli near you.
patchettsconfectionery.
co.uk
LOOK shaRP
A vital companion for those
who class themselves
“grate” cooks. Get creative,
treat your carrot like a pencil
and turn out something
truly beautiful.
karoto Peel and Sharpen
by Pa design; £11.10;
madeindesign.co.uk
WORDS ISKA LUPTON

WORDS NANCY ALSOP ILLUSTRATION GEORGINA LUCK
SMAll
ScalE
BIG FLAVOURS ON A LITTLE PLATE – A RUSTIC SEAFOOD TASTER FROM
POLPETTO’S HEAD CHEF FLORENCE kNIGHT
Florence Knight is rarely mentioned without
some reference to her age (she’s just 26). But
then, given that Russell Norman appointed
her to run the show at the achingly cool
Venetian bàcaro-inspired Polpetto back in
2010, and that she has both a cookery book
and television work in the offing, it’s hardly
surprising her precocious rise should have
been duly noted, or that she should have been
named one of Zagat’s “30 under 30” stars.
CLams, CanneLLini Beans and WiLd GaRLiC
We can’t get enough of the ex-fashion
student’s palpable enthusiasm, or her exquisite
small plates, which have been the mainstay of
her ascent through the culinary ranks.
Take, for example, this exemplary clam,
cannellini bean and wild garlic number; hearty
and full of flavour, it sums up her approach
to cooking, which is all about simple food
that packs a serious taste punch. Summer
on a (small) plate.
inGRedienTs
FOOD
(Serves 4)
500g clams
one clove of garlic, peeled
and sliced
one red chilli, deseeded
and diced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 x 400g tin of cannellini beans
(drained and rinsed)
75ml of white wine
a handful of wild garlic
meThOd
1. Place a large wide pan with a
lid over a medium heat and pour
in the oil.
2. As it warms up, add the garlic
and chilli to the hot oil. Cook for a
minute to infuse the oil.
3. Next, turn up the heat and add
the clams before pouring over
the white wine. Quickly place
the lid on the pan and return to
a medium heat for two minutes,
shaking the pan occasionally.
4. Stir through the beans and
let the pot simmer until they are
warmed through. Fold through
the wild garlic, popping the lid
back on for a minute until the
leaves have wilted a little and the
last of the clams has opened.
5. Discard clams that haven’t
opened. To serve, divide the
clams between shallow bowls
and pour over a dribble of olive
oil. Serve with crusty bread.
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 39

40
Earliest music memory?
in my parents’ car they had a
cassette of the soundtrack of
The Draughtsman’s Contract by
michael nyman. they also had
this 1980s synth pop compilation
called Club for Heroes. we
basically alternated between
those for about five years.
First single you ever bought?
i didn’t get into buying singles
until much later because even at
a young age, the economics of
singles just didn’t make sense to
me. my music taste was mainly
dictated by my older brother
MY lIFE In
MUsIC
with Spector frontman,
fred macpherSon
who was
buying stuff like Beatles’
tapes throughout the 1990s. i
think the first album i got was
toploader’s Onka’s Big Moka on
cd after hearing their version
of Dancing in the Moonlight on a
Jamie oliver advert or something.
which is in no way embarrassing.
When did you realise you
wanted to make music?
i never connected making
music and making a living until
my early twenties. i think my
first band
started when i was 15 or
16, and after our first rehearsal
i remember telling my mother
it was the most fun i’d ever had.
i only became aware of the
“living” element when i realised
i’d been doing it for years and
making nothing.
Album that changed your life?
the album that took me from
casual music listener to “music is
my life” was the Strokes’ Is This It.
i saw pictures of them and heard
their songs, and i thought: “this
is what living really is”. it’s still one
of my favourite albums. Like one’s
formative sexual experiences,
the relationships you have with
the first albums you decide you
like are invaluable and kind of
impossible to repeat.
Greatest influences?
as lyricists and artists, nick cave
and tom waits. the Strokes had
a massive role in my musical
upbringing so i will always owe
a lot to them. these days i listen
to roxy music a lot, but influences
take years to settle in.

PHOTOGRAPHS S_BUCKLEY; FEATUREFLASH; NORTHFOTO
What song makes you
instantly happy?
Sunchyme by dario G. it makes
me laugh and suddenly life
feels ridiculous.
What do you play when
you’re feeling blue?
frank Sinatra songs from his
capitol period, like Only the
Lonely and No One Cares.
it’s not very fashionable to
like Sinatra but nobody’s
ever done break-up songs
like him. he can take one
feeling and turn it into a
hundred different songs.
What songs most evoke
your years growing up?
there was a period in my
teens when i’d get home and
watch mtV2 for two hours
straight. all the songs from
that period, when Zane Lowe
presented a show called Gonzo,
really were the soundtrack to my
life. Stuff like the corals’ Dreaming of
You, the Vines’ Get Free, the Strokes’
Someday, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’
Maps… a lot of bands beginning with
“the” basically.
Most romantic song ever?
Send in the Clowns by Stephen
Sondheim is probably the most
romantic song, in as much as romance
generally equates to loss, confusion
and a stubborn refusal to do the right
thing. Sinatra, Judi dench and the
tiger Lillies all do incredible versions.
Which songs do you enjoy
performing to a big crowd?
i like playing slower, more emotional
songs to large groups and seeing how
everyone can get affected and feel
something together, tracks like Grim
Reefer and Lay Low.
And to a more intimate crowd?
the faster, more lairy songs are fun.
Stuff like Chevy Thunder and Twenty
Nothing. Sweaty and intense.
When did you realise Spector
was destined for big things?
ha ha, i still haven’t.
You’re often compared
to Jarvis Cocker and The
Killers. Are there any parallels
that you’d draw?
i guess people compare me to Jarvis
because i wear glasses, but he’s in a
different league as a songwriter and
frontman. the killers makes sense
because we’ve ripped them off quite
a lot, especially their Sam’s Town era.
i don’t know what i’d compare us to – i
guess we sound much like the bands
we listened to growing up. But now
we’ve exorcised a lot of those spirits
i don’t know how long that will last.
Are comparisons ever useful?
comparisons are the only way music
journalists can describe music, so
they’re helpful in as far as they allow
their readers to join the dots. i guess
it’s like trying to describe colours –
the easiest thing is to talk about them
in relation to other colours. though in
reality that’s not a description at all.
Proudest moment so far?
playing on Later with Jools Holland
and at coachella festival were the
absolute highlights, along with going
to Japan for Summer Sonic.
Who are you listening to now?
in terms of new stuff i’m listening to a
lot of Solange knowles, Blood orange,
Sky ferreira, kendrick Lamar and
tame impala. in terms of old stuff: Soft
cell, the art of noise, peter Gabriel,
fabio frizzi and Yes.
Rising stars to watch this year?
Swim deep, palma Violets and haim
obviously. plus Gabriel Bruce, Luls,
peace, Splashh, pale, Skaters and
Jaws – all great bands/artists that i’m
looking forward to hearing more from.
Favourite Spector lyric?
“we got so close that at times, you
know i’d confuse your thoughts for
mine” is one i like a lot at the moment.
Ultimate musical heroes?
nick cave, tom waits, Bryan ferry,
and frank Sinatra.
soUnD
BItEs
Cultural notes
with tim roupeLL, author of
BuSineSS Book “Bread and
Butter” and Sme mentor
I was fortunate to have a hippy older brother. A
large part of my life-long love of music has been
influenced by him. I once asked him who he rated
as the best guitarist and he immediately came
up with Irish blues guitarist, Rory Gallagher. My
first concert was seeing him, and I was hooked.
Some people should be better known. In the
early 1980s you’d hear Ry Cooder blasting out
of almost every bar. He later found fame with
the Buena Vista Social Club, but his earlier
albums Bop Till You Drop and Borderline are
brilliant. Check out his hairs-on-the-back-ofyour-neck
guitar playing on the song How Can
a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live.
The Stone Roses’ 1989 debut is one of the
few classic albums of recent times. When the
band were recording I am the Resurrection
they kept playing after the end of the song, and
the second half of the
final version is a
constant joy.
Not
everything
was better
in the old
days. There’s
plenty of brilliant
music being made
now. The buzz name
on everyone’s lips is Jake
Bugg. He’s only about 12 (well,
18 to be accurate) but has the most
amazing talent. Listen to his voice soar on Two
Fingers from his self-titled album.
Some songs creep up on you. All I Want and
Perfect World from Kodaline’s eponymous
debut EP are both lovely songs and worth
sticking with after their slow starts.
You can’t beat great, raw energy with a really
catchy chorus. Palma Violets is just the band
for this with their single Best of Friends.
For something different, try Public Service
Broadcasting. They take samples from old
public information films and mix them with
electronic music. It shouldn’t work, but it does.
Listen to Spitfire from their EP The War Room.
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 41

Home Story
tHe Green
HoUse LITERARY
“One of the advantages of being married to
a car salesman is that he is totally at home in
the auction room,” laughs literary agent Lisa
Moylett, whose Shepherd’s Bush home – where
she lives with her husband, three sons and dog
Mya – is testament both to his haggling skills
and their combined unerring eye.
The spoils of their habitual outings to Lots
Road and further afield to the maison ventes in
France are evidenced at every turn, alongside
a gloriously eclectic array of Irish art, much of
which came from Lisa’s collector mother-inlaw.
The vintage furnishings, meanwhile – all
flowered upholstery and soft green painted
walls – lend a sense of faded grandeur to the
house, as well as an uncanny impression of a
rural idyll, quite in spite of the urban setting.
“I love the fact that this house feels like a
country house and yet is right in the middle
of the city,” enthuses Moylett, who moved her
family here eight years ago, attracted both
by the affordable price and the prospect of a
project. “Our third son had just been born. We
were living in a three-bedroomed house and I
think I just panicked for more space. It turned
out to be a hell of a project though – even the
builders found there was more work involved
than they had anticipated.”
The house has certainly come a long way
since they bought it, the
previous owners having
divided its four storeys
into numerous bedsits.
Moylett, however, remained
undeterred. “When I viewed
it, I knew instantly it was the
right place. The wide hallway,
generous proportions and
sheer size were all perfect.
But it was hard to see exactly
AGENT LISA MOYLETT OPENS
THE DOOR TO HER RURAL RETREAT
IN THE HEART OF SHEPHERD’S BUSH
what we were buying, because so many of the
features had been boarded up.”
Happily, the plethora of hardboard masked
a multitude of design treasures. The extensive
renovations revealed not only delicate
cornicing but original fireplaces, room dividers,
shutters and even banisters – all intact. “I think
the only thing we had to replace were the
fireplace grates and we didn’t have to look very
“When I vIeWed It, I kneW
Instantly It Was the rIght
place, But It Was hard to
see What We Were BuyIng
Because so many features
had Been Boarded up”

BRIdGE MAGAZINE 43

44
Home SToRY
“I thought I’d Be very Bold and
choose What I thought Were
WIldly dIfferent colours. It
Was only When they Were up
that I realIsed they Were all
really just a varIatIon on
the theme of green”
far for replacements. Some builders rang our
bell one day with a whole load of grates in the
back of their van.”
If there’s a certain serendipity about this, it
seems providence is something of a recurring
theme when it comes to this house. “The layout
reminded me of a beautiful house in Little
Venice that I knew as a child,” recalls Moylett,
for whom the place clearly taps into former
and formative happy memories.
Meanwhile, downstairs a large kitchen leads
to a courtyard at the front of the house and a
garden to the back. “Because the kitchen was
such a large room, I didn’t see the need for
fitted units,” notes Moylett. Indeed, the bespoke
wooden units, open shelves, Lacanche oven
and painted armoires bear testament to the
sagacity of such a choice, redolent of France as
they are, where the couple also own a home.
But while Moylett is a committed
Francophile, she also has a penchant for the
exotic; the influence of her upbringing in Africa
and the Middle East is clear from the strong
colours and rich fabrics used throughout. The
sumptuous master bedroom in particular has
plush drapes, a sage green chaise longue, wall
hangings and silk bedspreads, all of which
speak of heady hotter climes.
NarrativEs /
“I absolutely love colour,” says Moylett. “When
we first decorated the house, it was entirely
calico white, but it didn’t really work. So later
WElstEad
I thought I’d be very bold and choose what I
vErity
thought were wildly different colours. It was
only when they were up that I realised they were
all really just a variation on the theme of green.”
PHOTOGRAPHS
It makes sense that Moylett should have an
eye for colour, having trained first as a student
of stained glass at Chelsea Art School, before
NarrativEs /
setting up a photographic and illustration
agency. Today she runs her own literary agency,
marshall
working from a room which overlooks the
Emma
garden – making her’s surely one of the most
exquisite offices in London. WORDS

6795_D&G_MTTCS 2013_ad_230x300.pdf 1 26/03/2013 13:14

46
Cape West multicoloured
garden chair, £930;
gomodern.co.uk
Brazil chair by Daniel
Widrig, price on application;
dsigndot.com
De La Warr pavilion
chair by BarberOsgerby,
price on application;
establishedandsons.com
Gloster Dansk lounge
chair, £1,199;
chelseagardener.com
Pod hanging
seat, £1,099;
chelseagardener.com
Panton junior tangerine chair,
£130; conranshop.co.uk
Bold chair by Moustache,
£468; placesandspaces.com
sitting pretty
Keep your cool with our picK of the most stylish garden seats
Acapulco chair by
OK Design, £343;
madeindesign.co.uk
Husk H2 outdoor armchair
by B&B Italia, £1,545;
bebitalia.it

BLUe
notes
Bring a neutral home to life with
the most elemental of primary colours
GO DOTTY Dot glass,
£28; jonathanadler. com
sKATe OFF Penny Original 22”
in blue white, £79.99;
pennyskateboardsonline.co.uk
TIDY TRIO Geometric
desk tidy, £12;
rockettstgeorge.co.uk
LOVe TRIANGLe Geometric
triangles blue cushion, £26;
hunkydoryhome.co.uk
NAUTICAL BUT NICe
Viola bench, £899;
darlingsofchelsea.co.uk
BLUe LAGOON saraille
Wallpaper, £185;
rockettstgeorge.co.uk
WHIsKeD AWAY Kitchen
Kong whisk, £12.95;
follyhome.co.uk
BIRD’s THe WORD
Blue ibis, £289;
iittala.com
CUNNING DesIGN
Fox cushion, £72.50;
scp.co.uk
Design NEWS
sMOKe sCReeN
Blue crystal ashtray,
£175; davidlinley.com
sOUND OFF ZHP-005
headphones in light blue,
£44.99; conranshop.co.uk
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 47

48
PRIVATE
LIVESThis
low-builT Townhouse – a former hangouT
of The founders of PrivaTe eye – is a lesson in
undersTaTed elegance combined wiTh slick gadgeTry

When retired lawyer Sandra Rosignoli first walked into
18 Draycott Avenue, it had been untouched by the hand of
builders and decorators since the 1950s. “It was kind of
extraordinary”, she recalls. “There were cartoons all over
the walls, and little scribbled height charts as a relic of the
growing children who had once lived here. The cartoons were
of things like the Chelsea pensioners. It was rather charming,
though in huge need of modernisation.”
Remnants of familial life aside, the walls of this house – a
former Victorian cottage bombed and rebuilt in the 1940s – had
also been privy to much political badinage; having once been the
hangout of the founders of Private Eye, scribbled murals of
a more political persuasion joined those more childish daubs.
That was until 18 months ago, when Rosignoli snapped
up the property which, though characterful, had been sadly
neglected (the carpets were 60 years old) and was in dire
need of an interior vision and some long-lost love.
“I spent a year doing it up,” explains Rosignoli, whose
unerring eye is evident throughout the property’s four levels,
all of which are laid with über-smart walnut flooring. There
are, certainly, no half-measures here. “We dug into the garden
to get an extra bedroom and also raised the ceiling of the
basement by about a metre, so you don’t get the sense that
you are underground.”
Indeed, the expansive basement is home to a huge
television room – gadget aficionados eat your hearts out –
and constitutes Rosignoli’s favourite part of the renovated
house (“it is a bit of a stunner”).
But then there’s plenty to choose from in the showstopping
stakes. First there’s the light-filled and generously
WALLS
“It’s a
peaceful
place, whIch Is
somethIng
that I really
cherIsh”
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 49

50
sized drawing room-come-dining room, which leads out
through French doors on to an enclosed patio – the perfect
spot for a summer sundowner. Then there’s the bright and
breezy kitchen, with its architecturally asymmetric breakfast
bar and Gaggenau appliances. It also has marble bathrooms
and five bedrooms – two of which are en-suite, and one of
which houses a freestanding egg-shaped beauty of a bath.
“The décor is fairly low-key,” says Rosignoli modestly. “It
was important to us that it should be glamorous but practical
and retain its character while being a little more neutral in
tone than its previous incarnation. Plus, I am obsessed with
storage – you can never have enough, so there are cupboards
everywhere possible.”
That the renovation of this house is a triumph of form and
function – that hallowed pairing – bears testament to the fact
that Rosignoli is no novice, having “derived a lot of joy from
doing up homes over 20 years, since I was 24 – though not
necessarily always as development projects.”
The personal touch is certainly in evidence here, and there
is a pervading sense that this was a labour of love, as opposed
to a more detached development. It helps, too, that Rosignoli
is passionate about the area: “It’s a peaceful place, which is
something that I really cherish. It’s a great location – you can
pop across the road to the fishmonger, the cake shop and
everything you could ever want is there on Sloane Avenue and
Chelsea Green. Plus, on Walton Street, Jak’s is the perfect
place for the younger set to have a drink.”
If they can tear themselves away from cocktail hour on the
terrace, that is…
“It’s a secret house. What you see on the outside isn’t what
you get on the inside.” Ed Mead, D&G Director, Chelsea office.
PHOTOGRAPHS MORTEN ODDING

£4,500,000 freehold; draycott avenue, sw3 Contact Chelsea Office 020 7225 1225
WALLS
“we raIsed the
ceIlIng of the
basement by a
metre, so you
don’t sense
that you are
underground”
BRIdGE MAGAZINE 51