Yachting Faire!

Back in the day when millionaires had yachts that were worthy of being called yachts, an invitation to cruise the Mediterranean on one was snapped up without a second thought. Nowadays the mega yachts are just examples technological excess, to see who can build the biggest and the fastest with the most amount of boy toys installed.

The yacht by which all others were judged back in the 50’s and the 60’s was the “Christina”, Onassis’ mega yacht named after his daughter. Onassis a man who had as about as much savoir faire as a mollusc on a hot rock, outdid himself when it came to the “Christina”!

One of the chicest places to be in the 50’s and 60’s thanks to Tina, Onassis’ first wife, a week cruising the Mediterranean was pure heaven, albeit with a bit of intrigue and drama.

Winston Churchill was a regular, Liz Taylor made several appearances, Maria Callas first started her affair with main man himself, and Jacquie O also laid the seeds for her future marriage on the yacht.

By today’s standard’s she is small and outdated, however her salons were hung with priceless works of art, and her dining room decorated with panels painted by Vertes. The aft main deck had an outdoor pool with a mosaic floor that rose at the push of a button to form a dance floor and the barstools in the bar were upholstered in very soft, fine leather made from the foreskin of a minke whale.

His first wife, shipping heiress Tina Livanos, said, “The yacht is his real passion. He is like a housewife fussing over it, constantly looking to see that everything is impeccable.” Impeccable indeed—a crew member once explained, “You could smash up a $20,000 speedboat into pieces and not a word would be said, but spit on the Christina’s deck, and you were out of a job.

Now available for hire at around $45,000 per day, you too can indulge. Just don’t forget to invite me!

Simple Savoir Faire

Ok, I had a really hard time in selecting photos for this entry, as out of around 30 photos available I was swooning over each outfit.

With Haute Couture week happening in Paris at the moment, we are all so familiar with the big designers such as Dior and Givenchy. While their creations are absolutely fabulous and oozing with luxe and savoir faire, we are left pondering what sort of woman will be wearing these clothes and where?

Enter Bouchra Jarrar, who presented her second Haute Couture collection this week in Paris. Jarrar a relative newcomer, who was previously at Lacroix and Balenciaga presented a tour de force in refined simplicity and elegance. After reading several reviews on the collection I was surprised that no journalist had mentioned the Courreges type look of the clothes. This was the first thing I had thought of, as the collection was full of simple creams and blacks with contrasting piping and the minimum amount of bling. They seemed an evolution of the Courreges look of the late 60's.

Fabulous boat necks competed with plunging V-necklines, while cutaway panels exposed a glimpse of bare skin or a tiny panel of gold lame.

The collection was incredibly cohesive without a mish mash of styles fabrics and colours parading down the runway. These are clothes you can imagine real women in, going to work or a swish evening of cocktails and dinner.

"Really, my only inspiration is the world outside me, the women who surround me," said Jarrar, "I tried to create a sort of ideal wardrobe with all the elements women now need."
I say mission accomplished and more!