Lady Therese

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Interiors•Lifestyle•Travel
“Two countries separated by a common language” – George Bernard Shaw Since being here, some things have been lost in translation. You’ll see what I mean in a minute. Our London flat (apartment) is still largely unfurnished. I must get a move on (hurry up with) this because my husband arrives tomorrow and among other things we need clothes hangers (coat hangers). There are built-in wardrobes (closets) with rails, but curiously no drawers for jumpers (sweaters). The sitting room...
Pilates classroom in London.

Take Control

Lifestyle
“A handbag?” – Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest. The English are very polite. I was reminded of this at the end of my first Pilates class this week. Somewhat zoned out from having reconnected with my pelvic floor, I watched the others take a black water bottle from a ledge and return to clean their mats. Following suit I took a water bottle and the Japanese style cleaning pouch next to it. I was giving my mat...
Hammersmith Bridge closed for maintenance works on a cloudy day.
A pair of Hunter wellies sits next to a pair of black Louboutin heeled boots.

Caught Between Two Shores

Fashion•Lifestyle
It’s raining. Again. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject. Actually no, much more must be said on this subject. Rain here does not come down from the sky in rivulets that cascade gently over your umbrella allowing you on arrival to resemble the person who left home. No. This is English rain. It comes in sideways, driven by the wind that renders your polka dot parapluie useless. Our apartment is south of the river across Hammersmith...
Lady Thérèse in a red phone booth come defibrillator in London.
Lady Thérèse in a red phone booth come defibrillator in London.

London Calling

Lifestyle•Travel
“The band will get back together when hell freezes over” – Don Henley, 1982. Hell froze over in 1994 when The Eagles reunited and broke all box office records. When we emigrated from England to California eighteen years ago I could not see us ever moving back, which is why I’m going round in something of a daze now that we’ve become bi-coastal. The idea to split our time between Europe and LA began with my love affair with...
Cat sits on a restaurant chair in Paris.
Black and white cat sits on a restaurant chair in Paris.

Here’s Looking At You Kid

Lifestyle
“Louis. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” – Casablanca. You may have noticed an absence of blog posts these last few weeks. I do apologise but frankly I have been in the depths of despair. Last month disaster struck when Amélia, the French teacher I told you about in Karma Chameleon, accepted a job in film production. This left me without my bi-weekly fix of all things Française at Café Bouchon. I was bereft. What...
Smart monotone clothes lay on the bed for packing.
Smart monotone clothes lay on the bed for packing.

Not Dead Yet

Fashion•Lifestyle
“Don’t you think you’re too old to sing rock n’ roll? Some guy said to me. I said – You’d better check with Mick Jagger”– Cher. Why, I ask you, is there an international media debate whenever France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron ‘dares’ to wear leather pants, skinny jeans or above the knee skirts? This is an ageist, feminist and cultural issue. There’s none of that nonsense in France. Vogue and Paris Match adore her style. Brigitte is sexy...
River view in Paris.
Lady Thérèse waiting for Chocolate Chaud in Paris.

Karma Chameleon

Lifestyle•Travel
I know. It’s been a while. I’ve missed you too. “So what happened?” I hear you ask. “Where have you been these last few years? What have you been up to?” Well, it’s been quite the journey. I daresay there may have been warning signs in my earlier posts because it was during the writing of Letter From Paris that I developed a rare syndrome. A therapist may have considered it a personality disorder. I prefer to think of...
View of pristine white beach in France.
Lady Thérèse lying on a lounger at the beach.

No Strings Attached

Fashion•Lifestyle
“You know why I feel older? I went to buy sexy underwear and they automatically gift wrapped it” – Joan Rivers. While it was an American man who invented the tea bag, it was a French man, Louis Réard who invented the bikini. In 1946 while on vacation in St. Tropez, the designer noticed women rolling their two-piece swimsuits to get a better tan and came up with the idea of the exposed midriff. In France you can sunbathe...

Liquid Gold

Lifestyle
“A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water” – Eleanor Roosevelt. Did you know that an American invented the tea bag? Unearthing that nugget was the sum total of my achievements yesterday. After many hours at my desk attempting to draft an introduction to the upcoming Tea With Lady T series, this sentence was all that survived – ‘In 1910, Thomas Sullivan, a New York...

The Photo Shoot Tales

Career•Fashion•Lifestyle
Uber is like a drug. I can’t stop using it. A couple of trips in the back of their chauffeur driven limousines and my own car was dead, tumbleweed rolling under the tires. People talk about inventions that changed history – Sancerre, Botox, Elvis on iTunes and five-inch stilettos, but to paraphrase John Lennon ‘before Uber there was nothing.’ For the first in our series of photographs we Ubered to The Peninsula Hotel for Afternoon Tea. History has it...