What to wear? Spring Summer Here we Come....

This SS13 Ali is going on a new style journey by teaming up with her friend and top image consultant Leesa Whisker to work on a Spring Summer wardrobe for work and everyday.  Below is Ali's mood-board for the season, which Leesa requires before the consultation and shopping can begin. 

 

I'm excited about working with Leesa but it all feels a bit grown up and bizarre. I've always been a sling it on and buy it kind of person. Having said that,  I hate throw away fashion and love quality and longevity in my clothes so I'm looking forward to finding my ideal shapes. These days I don't  have much time to shop so finding great clothes can be a problem. It feels like a step forward to ask an expert and be able to start saying "I know what shapes suit me now and I can invest in proper clothes." I'm also keen to buy some British labels. 

Ali  

Over the summer Ali will share some of the looks she and Leesa create,  as well as giving a little more insight into how the image consultation process works and why it's a valuable thing to spend time and money on. We also hope to involve Leesa in some scarf styling tutorials. 

The Boutique Gallery Launch Party at Jaeger - SS13

This week has been a roller-coaster of innovative canapes, air kissing and cooing over very fine things, with our press day at IPR, meetings all over London and a buzzing launch party for The Boutique Gallery at Jaeger. Here are a few snaps of us and various Boutique Gallery guests including Laura Bailey, Daisy Lowe, the lovely Lara Bohinc, Laura Jackson, Becky Tong and Monica Beatrice of the Elgin Avenue. We also spied press representatives from Vogue, Marie Claire, Company, Cosmo, Easy Living, La Petite Anglaise and Stylenest. It was great to finally see everyone's collections in the flesh and start getting excited about our SS13 scarf collection being stocked on Regent Street. 

Age of Reason designer Ali Mapletoft- by Lea Salomone

Laura Bailey - photo courtesy of Jaeger

Daisy Lowe - photo courtesy of Jaeger

Lara Bohinc - photo courtesy of Jaeger

 Ali and Charlie Mapletoft Age of Reason photo by Lea Salomone. 

 Ali Mapletoft Age of Reason-  photo courtesy of Jaeger

Laura Jackson photo courtesy of Jaeger

Becky Tong photo courtesy of Jaeger

Monica Beatrice of the Elgin Avenue blog- photo by Lea Salomone. 

Age of Reason at The Boutique Gallery - Jaeger Regent Street

It's been an exciting week for Age of Reason, with the launch of The Boutique Gallery on Monday.  We're pleased to be part of it alongside Preen, Charlotte Taylor, Mawi, Orla Kiely and many more.

Housed on the 2nd Floor of Jaeger's Flagship London store, the space has been re-vamped into a new luxury shopping emporium complete with tea-room and panoramic views over Regent Street. Cuppa anyone?

 Bringing together the best of emerging and established British brands, The Boutique Gallery manages to be both stylish and thoughtful, offering everything from high end apparel and accessories to beautiful Taschen art books. 

 For a full list of brands follow this link to the Jaeger Boutique Gallery Lookbook. So far our favorite pieces include bangles by Nicholas King, and Charlotte Taylor's dresses. We also hear rumours about Tusting Bags in menswear, which we like a lot. We always carry our samples in a Tusting bag. We're also looking forward to seeing new jewellery pieces by Lara Bohinc. 

The press launch will take place next Tuesday. We'll keep you posted!

The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, Kurt Cobain, Hidden poetry and Art

In my lifetime it's never been cool or trendy to like poetry. In fact as a teenager I probably hid my love of poetry underneath my love of Kurt Cobain. Looking back it seems ridiculous, but nobody my age wanted to look like a) a nerd b) a geek c) a dweep. (By the way all of these things are now cool and Topshop has the T-shirts to prove it.)

How things have changed. It may still be a social faux-pas to speak poetry in public, but I'm using Coleridge to inspire the new collection. And when I think about it, it's really not that different to using Nirvana. Also all the best people I know where nerds, geeks and dweebs once, so bring it on.

Ali

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98

(Excerpt) 

 Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 

 'Twas sad as sad could be;   

And we did speak only to break  

  The silence of the sea!      

All in a hot and copper sky, 

 The bloody Sun, at noon,  

  Right up above the mast did stand,   

No bigger than the Moon.    

  Day after day, day after day, 

 We stuck, nor breath nor motion;  

  As idle as a painted ship  

  Upon a painted ocean.   

 Water, water, everywhere,  

  And all the boards did shrink; 

 Water, water, everywhere,   

Nor any drop to drink.