As featured in UK InStyle magazine, January 2011

{words & images via InStyle}
on looks not being important: “I never really felt that was an obligation, to show that I can be – and I’m going to say this in quotes – ‘a pretty girl’. I mean, look at me.”
on her tough upbringing: “I wouldn’t change my childhood for anything. The hardships, not having money – there were negatives. I could have reacted by saying, ‘I’m going to be a loner’. Instead, I thought, ‘That’s how you can choose to look at me, but I’m going to make sure that I don’t look at people like that’. I’m not ever going to treat a kid that way.”
on still using coupons: “Just because I have some money now, I wouldn’t? That doesn’t make sense to me. I see it as a dollar in my pocket. People around me laugh, because I have a deeper understanding of what a dollar gets you and how far to make that dollar go. No wonder my closet is a hodgepodge. I have everything from Louboutins to Gap. You don’t have to have a brand name on to be stylish. You can mix it all together and it works.”
on bouncing back: “You hear people say, ‘Oh, I didn’t get that bonus’, or ‘I got fired’. And look, I’ve experienced not getting the bonus and I’ve gotten fired. I feel it and I say, ‘That sucks’. I get depressed. I cry. I have my feelings. I don’t gloss over them. But then, after that I pick myself up, brush myself off and say, ‘Why did this happen? What am I supposed to learn?’”

For the majority of us mere mortals, the end of December guarantees the following: train services will grind to a halt with a single snowflake, you’ll find a bumper pack of socks in your stocking, and Pringles will be 3-for-2 in Sainsburys. For celebs, however, the end of the year signifies their migration to holiday camp for the rich and famous. Whilst we’re wearing our pajamas for the fifth consecutive day and hoovering up left-over cheese straws, the A-List are prancing in turquoise waters and smugly flexing their gym-honed abs for the paparazzi. The migratory patterns of 2010 show a trend for either St Barts, Los Cabos in Mexico or Barbados – which NYE celebrations would you fancy joining?

{celeb images via prphotos}
Ah well, mustn’t grumble… I have a night of Jules Holland and 3 tubes of Pringles to look forward to. Happy New Year to you all!

There’s always one… and this year it was Lady Gaga. Whilst she was decked out in butchers’ cuts, however, the rest of the A-list scrubbed up magnificently in a variety of designers and styles. There were the seasoned pros (Johnansson, Kruger, Mendes), the new wave (Swift, Seyfried, Pinto) the model credentials crowd (Chung, Huntington-Whitely, Watson) and the reality set (Conrad, Kardashian/s, Port).
For me, two ladies consistently and effortlessly got it right, with a hint of, “oh, this old thing?”. Firstly, and I’m not being biased because I’m Gossip Girl’s biggest fan, there’s Blake Lively. Ok, so it helps that her body is flawless, but she dresses to make the most of her assets in a classy way and never plays it safe. Perfection:

Then there’s Olivia Palermo, who always looks immaculate. She may have the tact of a sledgehammer, but the way she pairs designer with high street labels, the girl never gets it wrong. She makes grey look interesting and her accessories frequently make an outfit. Here are some highlights:

{images via prphotos}

Now, you won’t blame me if I’m not entirely convinced that this genetically-blessed pairing are going to last. Just a hunch. After Jude’s “indiscretion”, he had an illegitimate child and Sienna took it upon herself to see what she’d been missing. Following a fling with the furry Rhys Ifans, she realised she missed the prettiness, and the couple reunited late last year. They have now combined their sizeable pay packets and splashed out on an £8million Georgian house in Highgate, North London. Rumours that Sienna has secretly installed CCTV cameras in the nanny’s quarters are unconfirmed. Here’s a look inside (keep an eye out for the random floral cow):

{images via popsugar}

Excuse me?! Talk about double whammy! Natalie Portman has notoriously flown under the radar when it comes to her personal life, but she has spoken out about the news saying that, “I have always kept my private life private but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience.” The lucky man is ballet choreographer, Benjamin Millepied (“a thousand feet” – what an apt name), whom Portman met in late 2009 on the set of her much-hyped-for-awards-season film, Black Swan. Mazel Tov!

{millepied image via details}