'Me Before You' Premiere

Thank goodness the event organisers decided to provide everyone with a pack of tissues before the screening because trust me, you’re going to need them.

The film adaptation of Me Before You is simply a work of art; to be honest, with a such a heart-wrenching plot provided by Jojo Moyes, it would be difficult not to produce something beautiful. With Emilia Clarke nailing the role of Lou Clark, and Sam Claflin playing Will down to a tee, the casting for this film was absolutely perfect. The screenplay itself was gorgeous and understated with a very British vibe the whole way through. By using the dull colours of her hometown to reflect Lou’s initially mediocre life, we are shown the direct contrast with her bubbly personality and illuminate her endless positivity. May I also just say how endearing Will’s grumpiness was – played spectacularly with appropriate subtlety and volume when necessary, Claflin enabled me to see passed his wheelchair prop. I felt his pain and saw his motivations; blatantly the sign of a very talented actor and I have no doubt that he’s only going to go from success to success.

Whilst the film deviated somewhat from the book’s original plot, evidently Jojo Moyes still supported the venture, as she had nothing but golden praise for the film’s director, Thea Sharrocke. All three women appeared (Emilia, Jojo and Thea) prior to the screening to give a brief speech, where Thea sweetly referred to the other two as 'the stripes of her bumblebee tights' (book/film in-joke for those of you unfamiliar with this reference!).

This is a truly touching piece of cinema that resonated with me and left me feeling uplifted thanks to Lou’s lovable quirkiness, along with a deep sense of appreciation for life. Cliché or not, the film’s message was stark and awakening: never take life for granted whilst you still have it and make the most of your time here. Travel the world and fall in love, because we never know when the things dearest to us will be taken away. #LiveBoldly

Maurice's Mantra

Voted 9th in Vogue.com's Most Stylish Men in Fashion, Maurice Mullen (Head of Fashion and Luxury Goods at the London Evening Standard) has been at the forefront of fashion publishing for almost thirty years.

Marking the beginning of Fall 2016 men's season, the Vogue.com editors weighed in on the well-dressed men they are eager to see, with Sarah Mower, Vogue.com Chief Critic, stating:

“To me, it’s Maurice Mullen of the London Evening Standard, who I always look forward to seeing at the London shows. I have never been able to comprehend the number of immaculate Savile Row suits he must have, nor his ability to deploy the loudest patterns and colors and the killer clashing pocket handkerchief—and plaid trousers on occasion!—while being the most gentlemanly and wickedly insightful neighbor to sit next to at a show.” 

I recently attended a lunch with him, where we were discussing the future and how we see ourselves making an impact within the media industry, specifically within the fashion and luxury goods sector. He shared with me a mantra that he often used to emanate ambitions and succeed when communicating that really boosted my confidence:

“In life, people can be radiators or drains”

He concluded that radiators give warmth and naturally draw people to them, contributing optimistically to others and enhancing their life in some way; they provide happiness and share joy with others whilst radiating positivity.

Drains are the opposite; they withdraw energy from those around them, emotionally exhausting them and only focus on their own issues. This is dispiriting to others, and means that they often take more from the relationship than they give.

Whilst I think this gives an extreme view of the world, it is definitely something to contemplate, both in a personal and professional capacity. It made me wonder if in life, I was being a resilient radiator, or a drag-you-down drain.

Thankfully, Maurice said he thought I was a radiator, with an outgoing personality and ambition to drive forwards but this isn’t necessarily true all the time. Everyone gets down days and it is okay to have them, and to seek advice or the support of others. Only when you start valuing your problems above everyone else’s can this lead down a slippery slope… or into a drain as it were!

Next week, Maurice is off to Paris Fashion Week to teach a class of 22 American students from Washington DC visiting PFW with their tutor for the first time - wish him luck/congratulate him using the below Twitter links!

Inspired by: Maurice Mullen and Vogue.com
@standardfashion  @ESMagOfficial #eveningstandardfashion

Number One Bestseller... God knows why!

Anyone who knows me is aware of the book overload I am subjected to at Christmas. One book I received was The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; after hearing all the raving reviews, and being a bestseller, I wanted to try it.

Well. There's several hours of my life I'll never get back again.

Where to begin?!

The plot itself, to be fair, was original in terms of presentation: seeing a life through the eyes of a commuter showed the notion of involvement through objectivity, as if watching a scene on TV rather than reality, which provided an element of dimension; this was the only patience I had with the god-awful plot/writing style. The use of distance was used well in terms of proxemics versus the emotional involvement of characters but ultimately it was dull and dragged on. And on. And on a bit more.

The characters had no depth, they were all hideously shallow. Without ruining the ending, those characters included in the 'twist' at the end were miserably predictable and it came from nowhere. To make twists believable, there must be a crescendo, some sort of subtle development throughout the text to make it plausible. Here, apparently Hawkins got bored of writing her endless drivel and decided to end it by picking out a character from a hat to pin the murder on.

The use of short sentences was dismal: never having a sentence with more than 10 words just makes it sound like you can't write properly. The vocabulary, although it shows promise in certain places, was of a primary school standard, and when an interesting word did present itself,  it was usually thrown in to appear intelligent, rather than actually contributing effectively to the text. More often than not, one gets the sense that the author has merely used the 'synonyms' option in Microsoft Word.

Severely unimpressive book. I definitely don't understand the hype surrounding this book, but if you disagree then leave a comment!