Amanda | The Womens Room

Art & CultureJune 3, 2015

Guest post: The Rare and Remarkable Ruth Artmonsky

By Amanda

Our guest blog slot has enabled some readers to interview women who have long fascinated them, today our guest blogger Anna Lambert tells us about when she met the inspiring Ruth Artmonsky… Ever heard of Ruth Artmonsky? Possibly not –… Read More

Art & CultureJune 1, 2015

Venice: more art from the Biennale, plus a few travel tips

By Amanda

For anyone wanting to visit Venice, I’d urge you to go off season (don’t even think about August) and to consider staying away from the main drag, on either the Dorsoduro or the Guidecca. We stayed at La Calcina, a… Read More

Home & GardenMay 29, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: Food Tales from Scotland

By Amanda

More from our guest food blogger Jo Orr and this weeks she’s in roaming and foraging in Scotland I have travelled 500 miles north to spend the Half Term school holiday with my parents and varied guests in their rambling,… Read More

Art & CultureMay 28, 2015

Women artists at The Venice Art Biennale, TWR’s top picks

By Amanda

Last week I went to the Venice Art Biennale, I know, tough gig, traipsing around the beautiful Italian city, eating more pasta that is good for a girl and trying to figure out how a bottle of tequila can be… Read More

Things We LoveMay 26, 2015

Perfume review: Arquiste and Bloom

By Amanda

New small-but-beautiful perfume houses are popping up all over the place at the moment, it’s a bit ‘another week, another new brand’ which is very exciting for anyone tired of the mass market selection. But of course you need to… Read More

Out & AboutMay 26, 2015

Sandi Toksvig for Prime Minister, please.

By Amanda

I don’t know how I missed this, since I’m Sandi Toksvig’s biggest fan, but she’s starting her own political party, The Women’s Equality Party, all about women! HOW did this pass me by? Sandi is leaving my favourite Radio 4… Read More

Things We LoveMay 22, 2015

Atelier Des Ors: aspirational perfume for when you’re feeling flush

By Amanda

Now, I’m not suggesting for one minute that this new gold-infused perfume from new perfume house Atelier Des Ors is something you’ll all want to go out and buy, it’s prohibitively expensive for a start -£225 for 100mls of eau… Read More

Home & GardenMay 22, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: Food for indecisive weather

By Amanda

The weather this week has been rather Scottish- sudden, torrential downpours followed by blinding sunshine, succeeded ten minutes later by a violent hail storm, then more sunshine producing a gorgeous watery rainbow, its colours blurring at the edges. Then more… Read More

Fashion & BeautyMay 20, 2015

A Post Full of Indigo

By Amanda

I promise I’ll shut up about indigo after this post, but fashion brands have really gone wild for my favourite colour this season and as we know, best to grab the highlights while we can because next season/year might see… Read More

Health & Happiness, We Are ReadingMay 18, 2015

Run, Ride, Sink or Swim, by Lucy Fry

By Amanda

I read this book slightly accidentally and absolutely never expected to like it as much as I have done. I met the author Lucy Fry this week for Project Perfume (more on this later) and said I’d look at her… Read More

Out & AboutMay 17, 2015

The perfect birthday/ Father’s Day present for Middleagedads

By Amanda

Once upon a time all real men carried a pen knife to tackle essential on-the-go DIY, such as removing stones and/or boy scouts from horses hooves and filleting home caught fish. My dad, now over 80, would still never be… Read More

Home & GardenMay 15, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: Green Peas and Alphonso Mangoes

By Amanda

Our guest food blogger Jo Orr is tempting us with verdant spring peas and sunshine-tinged Alphonso mangoes this week, I for one LOVE Alphonso mangoes, whose season is brief, so get your skates on…. I brought back a heaving bagful… Read More

Out & AboutMay 14, 2015

Guest blogger Juliette: Mid-Life Musings, 15 years and counting

By Amanda

I know some readers are finding these posts from abroad rather unsettling, what with pictures of beautiful mountains, gorgeous French food and the pull of a brocante-bargain. It’s a wonder we have anyone left in the UK! Well this lovely… Read More

Art, Culture & Craft, We Are ReadingMay 13, 2015

Sonia Delaunay by Tate Publishing

By Amanda

For anyone unable to visit the truly wonderful Sonia Delaunay exhibition at Tate Modern any time soon, then I can highly recommend the book. I bought it, something I rarely do these days due to shelf space and general book… Read More

Out & AboutMay 12, 2015

The new fragrance and beauty hall at Fortnum & Mason

By Amanda

Over at Fortnum and Mason, in London’s Piccadilly, there’s been a revamp of the fragrance and beauty floor which is worth a visit. I know Fortnum’s is The Queen’s grocer so I’m risking treason here, but I’ve not been that… Read More

Out & AboutMay 11, 2015

TWR meets Pebble’s Peter Adler, tribal art and jewellery dealer

By Amanda

Many TWR jewellery fans will know all about Pebble London, the extraordinary and extensive jewellery collection of dealer Peter Adler. Peter has been designing and selling tribal art and jewellery for 17 years, mostly from his stuffed-to-the-gunnels Paddington showroom. As… Read More

Home & GardenMay 8, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: elevating basics with, ahem, Champagne

By Amanda

We’re back with guest food blogger Jo Orr who this week is suggesting elevating basics for a bit of a treat by adding Champagne and, um, Viper’s Bugloss, it’s not often you hear that mentioned in a recipe…. This week… Read More

Health & HappinessMay 7, 2015

Adventures Before Dementia: Life in the Slow Lane

By Amanda

What happens to a committed clothes girl when she moves away from fashion’s fast lane? We’re back with Bebe in France to find out… It’s hard to believe that it’s exactly a year since I swapped the frantic world of… Read More

Art & CultureMay 6, 2015

Bleu Anglais and Noel Chapman

By Amanda

The fashion world has gone mad for indigo and denim this season. There are some lovely things out there and I might have to write one more post on a few of the best buys. Meanwhile, you might like to… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingMay 5, 2015

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

By Amanda

This was recommended to me recently (thanks Susan) and it’s a joy from the start. Quirky, odd and written in a freshly modern manner, The First Bad Man is Miranda July’s first novel, she’s written short stories before, which I’ve… Read More

Out & AboutMay 5, 2015

See This: Sonia Delaunay and Marlene Dumas at Tate Modern

By Amanda

Womenfolk, drop everything and rush, yes RUSH, to Tate Modern to see these two wonderful exhibitions by artists Sonia Delaunay and Marlene Dumas, which currently sit grandly on opposite sides of the Tate’s exhibition space. I am hoping that one… Read More

Home & GardenMay 1, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: Warm Salad and a Frozen Coffee

By Amanda

Given the cold winds of this week I thought I’d bring you a warm salad. Something that makes use of the lovely Spring veggies that keep on coming despite the plummeting temperatures (it was snowing in Glasgow on Monday!), but… Read More

Home & GardenApril 30, 2015

Adventures Before Dementia, Gardener’s World

By Amanda

We’re back in France with Bebe, and this week we’ve moved to the garden… Anyone who like me has spent years living in the city without any outside space bigger than the window-sill will know what it feels like to… Read More

Fashion & BeautyApril 29, 2015

Indian Summer Dressing with The DDOO Collective

By Amanda

Anyone else been quietly lusting over the clothes being worn in Channel 4s Indian Summer? I know Julie Walters plays a right old cow, but she does get to wear lovely swishy silk outfits. And those gloriously colourful saris! They… Read More

Health & HappinessApril 28, 2015

Be Bolder with Older!

By Amanda

We are indebted to TWR reader Andrea, who tipped us off about the fabulous new pro-age site Bolder, launched this March by photographer Helen Cathcart and freelance writer Dominique Afacan. The site has a simple mission, to champion people… Read More

Fashion & BeautyApril 27, 2015

Non-tucking-in white shirts and the new Max Mara store

By Amanda

I have given up tucking in shirts, my menopausal waistline does not look or feel good when too much is stuffed into an already snug waistband. I fondly remember attempting slender silhouettes such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s above, with her… Read More

Things We LoveApril 27, 2015

Protected Species summer collection

By Amanda

You may remember my enthusiastic endorsement of Protected Species outerwear back here. Well, nine months on and I still love my parka, which has been around the world with me; on country walks, urban safaris and down the high street… Read More

Home & GardenApril 24, 2015

Guest Food Blogger Jo Orr: Recipes For A Picnic Lunch

By Amanda

Call us optimists, but this run of sunshine has made us dream of outdoor eating, Jo Orr’s blogpost today is all about potential picnic food. As always, you can follow Jo on her own scrummy blog The skies have been… Read More

Fashion & BeautyApril 23, 2015

Age Appropriate Attire at Selvedge Magazine

By Amanda

The lovely new issue of Selvedge magazine is out now, and it’s the Ageless Issue, which I have contributed to with a feature (ahem, it’s a bit of a rant actually) Free For All on the out datedness of age… Read More

Things We LoveApril 22, 2015

Perfume review: Avery’s own range fragrance launch

By Amanda

More lovely new fragrances to talk about today, it’s thrilling to see how many interesting, quality fragrances are being launched at the moment. The main stream fragrances brands, who have been rather lazy with their rather predictable block buster fragrance … Read More