Dresing up and down

I was at a wonderful party last night. It was billed as a drinks party, and the venue was a friend's flat in Central London. It was quite a family party: there was an 89-year-old aunt.

I noticed that all the women including that aunt, had dressed up beautifully. (I was in my new Karen Cole dress and my D&K shoes). The delectable handbag designer Lulu Guinness was wearing a sensational vintage Fifties black grosgrain dress with a flared skirt and a red rose at her waist. We talked about our outfits and she said that whatever the occasion now, she just dresses up. The dress gives her confidence.

And, like Carrie Bradshaw, I got to thinking. When did men
stop thinking that a suit was what you wore to dress up? And why oh why do most men look so damned boring? Even in London?

Cue Harry and his long-awaited piece on men and their uniforms . . .

Update

isn't it funny how i'm quietest -- blogwise -- when i'm happiest?

just a quick update to relay the following bits of information:

i love what i'm doing at work. i love getting to know the people i work with, and finding much to like (and admire) about them. i love the mindboost i'm getting on a daily basis, and doing so many things for the first time -- crafting a pitch, brainstorming by myself (vs with a partner, like i used to do at gma), taking ownership of a project, going home early (before 7!), even having red wine at the office during the one time i had to stay past eight. love love love it.

my mom and sister came down from KL on friday night, and we had a fantastic touristy weekend -- little india, the night safari, orchard road, jumbo. i think marlon was a little shell-shocked with how much we shop/window shop. i have really missed spending quality girly time with my family! now my sister is back in KL and my mom's staying till next monday. i love having her here -- although she DID try to get me and marlon into bed at 9:30 p.m., saying, in a very mommy-ish way, "matulog na kayo, may pasok pa kayo bukas." hahaha.

i'm flying home to manila with my mom next monday to give a track (a.k.a. career) talk to jonathan's comm 100 class, and i'm totally excited to tell people what i do for a living! oh and to get my cheap fix of manila salon services! yay!

happiness all around :-)

The greatest travel writer you've never read

I have been pretty shocked in the past week or so to discover how many otherwise well-read people have never heard of Norman Lewis, who is without a doubt the greatest post-war travel writer.

His biography, Semi-Invisible Man, by Julian Evans, has just been published to mark Lewis' cententary. I first discovered him in the late Eighties and devoured his seminal work, Naples '44, about his time, during the war, as part of the Allied army of Occupation of Southern Italy following the collapse of the fascist regime in the south. It is achingly funny and rich in insights into that marvellous, untidy, erotic city.

Lewis' 1950 book on Indo-China, A Dragon Apparent, was in the suitcase of every educated journalist during the Vietnam war.

His elegyy for Spain just before the arrival of mass tourism in the Fifities, Voices of the Old Sea, and not published until 1984, is one of the five or six books I cherish.

I once had a brief correspondence with Lewis. I wish I could find the letters.

So just go and read him. And if you already have, then Julian Evans will be doing an event at Daunt's Books on Marylebone High Street on Wednesday. I'll be going.