Chutzpah's Bank Holiday Barometer

A light hearted look back over the past week’s good, bad and indifferent including the “don’t even go there’s”.


LOVING

Lily Collins – Who knew that, one day, soporific MOR baldie Phil Collins would father such a stunna?

MeMeMe's Boho Balm - We constantly love the products and colours that this funky little brand releases. This time, getting festival timing just right, MeMeMe are launching a duel lip and cheek tint with a vintage vibe. Available in Rouge and Coral from 7th June from Superdrug stores and online and at mememe.co.uk for an introductory price of £4.50.

Pop Art – From Louise Gray’s Haring-esque squiggles, to Lichtenstein influenced knits, Kenny Scharf T-shirts at Zara, and the perennially popular Louis Vuitton Sprouse scarves, Eighties Pop Art is back with bang.

The Fendi Baguette – Transcending transitory “It-bag” trends, Fendi’s modern classic, the Baguette, celebrates its fifteenth birthday this year. Katie's original is worth more today than when she first purchased it. This beaded Baguette is a snip at £2,349 at Net a Porter.

Plan B’s ‘iLL Manors’ – This bombastic audio and visual assault is the sound of Britain’s disaffected youth in 2012. Taken from Ben Drew AKA Plan B’s upcoming directorial debut.

Vogue Festival – A two-day programme of inspirational talks, panel discussions, and workshops, including international designers, such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tom Ford, chatting to Vogue editor Alex Shulman. 20^th-21^st April 2012 at the Royal Geographical Society. Tickets £75 per half-day session.

Dior's Capture XP Nuit - We're a sucker for spendy creams that are a joy to use. Like slipping on designer shoes, the best creams feel luxurious and comfortable. Dior's new Capture XP Nuit cream tackles the first signs of wrinkles by re-plumping skin using your skin's own hyaluronic acid production by double stimulation of fibroblasts using Galanga extract and TP-Vityl™, an  exclusive Dior molecule. It intensely repairs facial folds and plumps the skin so in the morning, the skin is soft and creases seem less visible. (£81.00)

‘The Golden Hat: Talking Back To Autism’ – Photographic project in aid of Kate Winslet’s pet charity HALO (Helping Autism Learning Outreach), featuring Kate’s friends, such as Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg, all modelling the same hat from her wardrobe in their own inimitable way. Published by Simon & Schuster.

School for Creative Startups – Anya Hindmarch and Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet have announced their support of ‘Dragon’s Den’ investor Doug Richard’s initiative to educate emerging entrepreneurs in the creative industries, something which the entire fashion industry should get behind.

Seeing stars –Why wait until Riccardo Tisci’s Autumn/Winter menswear collection for Givenchy hits the stores? Grab yourself a piece of down home Americana with a sweatshirt from Lee Jeans and Vivienne Westwood’s collaborative collection (right). Or, if you’re on a budget, snap up one of Worland’s star print T-shirts in patriotic red, white, and blue from Urban Outfitters for only £25.

HATING
U2 – We hear Bono has taken time out from his busy schedule saving the starving in Africa and curing AIDS to venture back into the studio with Lady Gaga’s producer RedOne. The resulting cacophony is unimaginable ie. we’d rather pour battery acid into our ears.


O2's Little Boxes - The new 'The Girl on the Platform Smiled...'  Makes you want to kill.

Maria from ‘The Apprentice’ – Poor interpersonal skills is one thing, dressing like the missing link between Janice from ‘Friends’ and Angie Watts is downright inexcusable. YOU’RE FIRED.

& other stories – We officially love COS so we applaud H&M’s new luxury concept but REALLY? Was ‘& other stories’ the best option on the table?

High Definition – Make-up manufacturers are said to be struggling to keep up with demand for natural-looking foundation. Who said technological advancements were always for the best? We’d rather always be seen through a haze of Vaseline and Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill.

The Cheryl Cole comeback – The shoes were bad enough but then she had to start singing again as well, plus she still can’t keep her legs together judging from a recently-released photo shoot. NOT TODAY THANK YOU. *slams door*

American Apparel – We feel grubby just looking at their adverts, which have been banned (again) by the Advertising Standards Agency. Not that American Apparel ever had any.

‘Mad Men’ overkill – We can’t believe that people are dressing up in vintage garb and throwing parties to watch the latest episodes of the hit US series. If anything, watching Jon Hamm makes us want to UNdress.

The wait for ‘Prometheus’ – This Summer’s blockbuster couldn’t come soon enough for Team Chutzpah, who’s been so starved of sci-fi geekery he’s resorted to watching pirate copies of the ‘Doctor Who’ series seven trailer on repeat (geek.).

Charlotte Olympia’s Rapunzel wedges – See? There actually IS such a thing as TOO MUCH.

DON’T CARE
The Del Rey – And neither will anyone else when this bandwagon-jumping Mulberry bag finally hits the shops.

Those Mark Ronson/Coca Cola adverts – We think the peroxide had some kind of Biblical Samson-style effect on the formerly untouchable producer, whose cool has dissipated to the point where these ads have us reaching for the remote control.

Samantha Brick – We’ve all had a laugh at the expense of the possibly clinically insane Mail writer, but the real villain in this whole sorry tale is the Daily Fail itself. We thought it had reached fresh lows of incredulity this week following the revelation that SHOCK! HORROR! Red food colouring contains crushed beetles, or after accusing Victoria Beckham of being a compulsive liar (Really? A tabloid accusing someone of lying? Pot? Kettle?), but cynically foisting the delusional Ms. Brick on us in order to garner Internet notoriety and website hits? Okay, so we fell for it, enough for its author to make a predictably charmless appearance on televisual beta blocker ‘This Morning’, but we won’t again.


Weekly Barometer compiled by Lee Clatworthy (@TeamChuztpah) and Katie Chutzpah. We'd love to hear what you think!