Start saving your money now for the Sybil Connolly sale, which takes place on Wednesday, 25th November. The designer, who died earlier this year, was a keen collector of antiques so there are some lovely pieces of furniture, glass and porcelain included among the lots. In addition, dinner and tea services designed by Sybil Connolly for Tiffany's are to be sold by auctioneers James Adam & Sons. However, fashion aficionados will be particularly interested in the lengths of Connolly fabric - especially examples of her famous pleated linen - which will be on offer, as well as examples of her sketches and drawings. Sadly, even though a large number of her dresses remain in the Merrion Square property, none of these feature in the Adam sale; word is that Sotheby's will be disposing of Sybil Connolly's clothes in London at a later date.
Look out for entrants in the Hickeys Make & Model Competition next weekend at the annual Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS, Dublin. Organised in association with Woman's Way, the event has four different categories covering everything from men's and children's casual clothing to knitwear, with a first prize of £500 in each section. The twist is that finalists are expected either to model the outfits submitted themselves, or to find a friend willing to do so. The shows take place in the RDS Simmonscourt at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November with winners announced on both days at 4 p.m.
Always in pursuit of the perfect mail order catalogue, we love Beauty Quest of England, which carries lots of otherwise hard-to-find cosmetics and skincare lines at what seem to us very reasonable prices. There are, for example, henna tattoo kits for £9.99 sterling and sets of diamond rhinestones for nails at £3.99. Names on offer include Aveda, L'Occitane, Nickel - not least its wonderful Lendemain de Fete which acts as an instant face-saver after a late night - and Aromatherapeutics (we haunted their stand during London Fashion Week), plus lots of professional make-up, skin and haircare tools. To contact Beauty Quest and order a copy of the current catalogue, telephone 0044-541-505000.
A newly-launched series of slim books, Stars, is dedicated to examining the style of 20th-century icons. Three have been issued so far, their subjects being Jackie Onassis, the late Princess of Wales, and Maria Callas. While the first two have scarcely suffered from neglect in the few years since their respective deaths, Callas definitely merits such attention. After seeing Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday in 1953, the opera singer lost weight and reinvented herself as a beauty. As the clever choice of photographs in this book shows, her distinctive appearance - all that eye-liner a la Liz Taylor in Cleopatra - never altered much thereafter, which is one of the hallmarks of true stardom. As impeccably produced as the women portrayed, the Stars series is published by Assouline, priced £12.95 each in the UK.
