On bralettes, gardens, Monty, moving overseas, and the saving grace of Mother Nature

Note: Use app or email if web cuts out. Apologies if the images are disappearing too. It’s been a strange kind of week, as we all know…

I had originally written two different drafts to celebrate 2025 – cheery, uplifting posts entitled All That’s Good About 2025. But then 2025 happened.

We are just three weeks into 2025, and I'm having trouble recognising the world.

I don’t recognise what Jeff Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez wore to the Inauguration underneath her stylish Alexander McQueen blazer. (A more-informed journalist friend calls it a ‘bralette’.) I don’t recognise the hand salute Elon Musk did – which looks decidedly like something Hitler once did. I don’t understand the hand gesture Eric Trump was doing, before his wife Lara nudged his side to stop him. I don’t understand why Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH was at the inauguration, along with his daughter Delphine. Ditto the Google man. And all the other tech men, who looked like they were oddball family members at a very strange wedding. I just didn’t understand much of the inauguration at all.

Please understand that I’m not asking for a political debate here. This is just a fashion commentary. Of sorts. But let’s put the bralette to bed (so to speak), and move on with dignity and grace. Things are shifting quickly in the world, and if, like many of us, you’re feeling a bit confused by what people are wearing – or gesturing – don’t worry. 2025 is going to be a little crazy for a while.

However, there are distractions, and delights, if you know where to look. Just look at Kristin Scott Thomas, who married quietly late last year to a dashing English gent. For some reason, her subtle nuptials made me very, very happy.

So here’s a list of random things to make you happy this weekend. And a lot of them are in the colour lilac, which makes me even more overjoyed.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, whatever part of the world you live in, and whatever you think of lacy bralettes.

RANDOM BITS OF BLISS, PART ONE

I always find gardening calming. Most gardeners will agree. There is something meditative about walking around a garden a dawn on a misty morning, smelling the perennials and tossing the snails into the compost heap. I miss my old garden and its lilac-hued beds. Terribly. So I’ve made plans to find a new garden. I don’t know if it will be here in Australia, or in Europe. So I’ve made plans to spend three months in England and Europe on a ‘botanical sabbatical’, to see if I still like living there as much as I used to do? The tiny library-style pied-à-terre is staying put for now. I can’t make too many decisions at once. I’m hoping Mother Nature helps make the decision for me? Or perhaps destiny will do it? Who knows? I’m hoping that some kind of epiphany takes place. Over there, amongst the waving delphiniums and dangling jasmine of Kent or Somerset, Lisbon or Sintra.

So it could be an interesting year.

We shall see.

I promise to let you know how I fare.

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THE SAATCHI GALLERY – FLOWERS: FLORA IN CONTEMPORARY ART & CULTURE

This exhibition at The Saatchi Gallery looks promising, and will likely be first on my To See List in England. It opens February 12 and continues until May 5, so if you’re heading to England in early May for Chelsea season, you may just make the last days. The highlight is the room with 100,000 dried flowers. Here’s a great blurb:

Flowers have, throughout history, inspired artists, writers and creatives. This exhibition seeks to reveal the myriad ways that flowers continue to be depicted by artists, and their omnipresence within our contemporary culture. Aside from studies of their inherent beauty and drama, flowers are also utilised as symbols, signifiers or metaphors for human emotions and impulses. The exhibition is divided into nine sections, each exploring different creative themes and media. The first section, Roots, establishes the rich history of artists depicting flowers and harnessing their symbolic power from the Renaissance through Dutch flower painting to the blossoming of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the 19th century and onto modernist explorations of flowers in the 20th century. The second room, In Bloom, focuses on works by established contemporary artists created over the past 30 years revealing how flowers have continued to fascinate and provide inspirational material in our contemporary age. A third room explores the relationship between Flowers and Fashion. The fourth room in the exhibition includes works by contemporary photographers and sculptors.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? There will, I’m sure, be a book to accompany it, if you can’t make the show. More info here – Saatchi

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TWO MORE FANTASTIC EXHIBITIONS

Two other glorious exhibitions to bookmark include Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party, on at the Garden Museum in London from mid-May. Link to the exhibition is here – Beaton And the Marie Antoinette exhibition at the V&A, sponsored by Manolo Blahnik, is causing a lot of interest, so if you want to see it, perhaps book tickets and hotels now.

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MONTY DON’S BRITISH GARDENS

If you’re a fan of Monty and his dulcet tones, tune in to watch his new series, British Gardens, on BBC2. Link is here – Monty (Note: The BBC may have put a paywall on in your country, but you may be able to find it on BritBox or YouTube, where many of us secretly watch Monty while eating our dinner.)

Monty is also designing a wonderful dog-friendly garden for the Chelsea Flower Show this year. It is, rather surprisingly, the first garden he has designed. Let’s hope it’s not the last. Details here – Monty’s Doggie Garden at Chelsea

If you want to hear Monty talking about his wife, his garden, and his life, he’s featured on the new BBC podcast here – Monty on podcast

A SECRET GARDEN IN DEEPEST DORSET

If you want to see one of my favorite gardens in the world, wind your way down to Dorset and a tiny village called Upsydling, where a friend Susanne has cultivated a remarkable garden, designed together with Isabel and Julian Bannerman – two of the world’s greatest gardens. (And such lovely people. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Bannermans’ own house and garden, which features in my new biographer Where The Old Roses Grow.) Susanne’s garden is a lost world of extraordinary beauty, set deep in a idyllic landscape in southern England. Follow Susanne on Instagram for her workshops and events. Or go to this link for more – Dorset Walled Garden

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RANDOM BITS OF BLISS, PART TWO

RENEE ON FAME (AND LIFE AWAY FROM IT)

I love Renée Zellweger. (Did you see her in the Judy Garland biopic? Amazing.) So I was thrilled to see that she is on the cover of this month’s UK Vogue. She is interviewed by Hugh Grant, her Bridget co-star, and their tête-à-tête is poignant, touching, funny, and often revelatory. They clearly still adore each other. Google UK Vogue January issue for the full interview.

Here are some interesting things to take away from it –

– Hugh and Renée have both kept their senses of humour – and their humility – intact, throughout all the films and the fame. Kudos. But if Renee had her career all over again, she would not be an actor. Neither would Hugh.

– Colin Firth hates chocolate. Renée is half-Australian. (Okay, her father is.)

– Renée now lives in San Diego with her ‘fella’ and his boy. (‘Fella’ is her word, but it’s a lovely word).

– When Renée took a long break from acting, she studied international law, built a house, rescued a pair of older dogs, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend, and spent a lot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs. She “got healthy”, she said. More kudos to her.

– Hugh is despondent that London is changing, the cinemas are closing, the local wine bar where he met his wife is now empty. Both he and Renée are sad about things in the world. (For some reason this makes me happy. We can all be sad-happy-sad together.)

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TINA BROWN ON THE DEATH OF MAGAZINES

I read this article in my Substack feed last week, and since then a number of Substack writers have profiled it. It’s worth reading. Link is here – Tina Brown on magazines. Tina touches on many things, from the hugely popular podcast Diary of a CEO (which I watch on YouTube) to the term ‘TL;DR’ (which happens in the comments section of the Cut and NYT, and which I love) and also, inevitably, a depressing discussion on the death of modern media and magazines. She has seen it all. So much media, so many magazines. All gone in the flash of a page turn. I worked in magazines in the Nineties, and it was indeed the glory years. But we must all move on.

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ELIZABETH GILBERT ON LOVE, LOSS AND NEW BOOKS

Those of you who loved Eat Pay Love will be thrilled to know that bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert has a new memoir coming out this year, entitled All The Way To The River. It is her first book for many years. She is also in Australian this week on a book tour, appearing in Sydney this weekend and at Melbourne Town Hall on February 5. There are still a few tickets available. Go to Eventbrite. The memoir is out in September, but she will likely be doing book tours in the next few months. I love her. I wasn’t a fan of Eat Pray Love, but I really admire her as a person.

HOTEL RECS – TOP PICKS FOR YOUR UK AND EUROPE TRIPS THIS YEAR
Sooooo many people ask me for hotel recs. I try. I really do. Everyone has different taste. What I like in hotels (lots of pretty textiles, nice service, a library or garden out back) may not suit you. But in the spirit of friendship, I will keep trying to offer great places to stay, because I know how difficult it is to find a bed for under 500 euros a night nowadays.

The Orange on Pimlico Road in Belgravia, London (above). This newly renovated pub is more of an upmarket clubby-style hideaway, with huge bedrooms, a great atmosphere, and a lovely farmer’s market right outside on Saturdays. It’s expensive. And there’s no reception at night. But oh – what a great location! I love staying here. (Note: Its sister hotel, The Grazing Goat in Marylebone, is to be avoided. Its bedrooms are horrifically noisy. But its sister hotel in Bayswater is beautiful.)

The Cavendish on Chatsworth Estate. The just-opened Cavendish is soothingly lovely, with cosy interiors, great hikes right outside the front door, and of course Chatsworth’s incredible cutting garden to wander through – glorious, even in the rain. It’s just been featured in Vogue (or UK H&G?) Google it – you’ll find the story.

More hotel recs coming soon, promise. There are a lot of new places but they’re crazily-expensive, and I don’t want you to stay there and waste your money. Bear with me and I will give you some beautiful, affordable places to stay.

More coming soon. There are a lot of good things on the horizon to share!