#livesofstyle

This past Saturday, Buckingham Palace opened up a special exhibition commemorating nine generations of royal children spanning more than 250 years.

Royal Childhood—a title as apt as could be—brings together an eclectic variety of toys, gifts, outfits, unseen photographs and film footage culled from the Royal Collection, the Royal Archives and the private collections of members of the Royal Family.

Set to remain open at the royal residence until Sunday, 28 September, this showcase offers a unique look into the lives of many young members of the royal family from birth to adolescence.  Among the many items on display is an assortment of rocking horses. Two of them are contemporaneous with the Queen’s childhood—one having belonged to her Majesty, and the other having belonged to her sister, Princess Margaret. Included in this collection is also the rocking horse gifted to Prince George of Cambridge by President Barack Obama of the United States.

In fact—horses seem to be a royal trend, exemplified by a pedal-powered horse and carriage used by Prince Charles and a door-turned-height chart taken from the nursery at Royal Lodge, Windsor which features horse shoes hammered into the wood from five childhood ponies.

Many of the well-loved objects also include baby progress books, milk teeth, a polo mallet, and a miniature Aston Martin. Among these treasures is one of the oldest artifacts–a wooden dollhouse crafted in the 1780s by a carpenter on the royal yacht for the daughters of George III. Also very relatable to little girls is a lovely, sparkly fairy dress worn by a young Princess Anne—often thought of solely as an equestrian—and a photograph featuring Anne in full fairy outfit, with fairy wings, a wand, and a matching doll.

The never-before-seen film footage is truly a one of a kind glimpse into the life of a childhood royal, and shows Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret playing peek-a-boo, learning to dance, having pillow fights, and gardening with their mother, then the Queen.

This exhibition is a gem—a rare glimpse into Buckingham Palace and the Royal Childhood.

"Its endless popularity as a makeup shade is a sign that this precious metal’s desirability has no limits.

A little of its brilliance goes a long way, while painting your eyebrows gold à la Christian Dior, might not be for everyone, Jason Wu and Gucci offer some more everyday-appropriate takes on this summer beauty trend.

Ready to get inspired?"

"Game of Thrones" starlet Gwendoline Christie donned a quirky Giles Deacon flamingo printed dress whose train, when unfurled, featured an amazing row of bright pink flamingos. Hot or not?

  It's the 50th anniversary for Ford’s Mustang--and buzz has been building for the last six weeks about the debut concept reveal of the upcoming creative collaboration: the Mustang Unleashed Collection--launching this Fall.

Five fashion labels from around the world were recruited to design limited-edition T-shirts including none other than the innovative Anna Sui, Rogan’s Rogan Gregory and Scorr Mackinlay-Hahn, Paula Cademartori, CO | TE’s Tomaso Anfossi and Francesco Ferrari, and Pamela Love.

In mid-April, these top designers met 86 stories above New York City at the Empire State Building observation deck to reveal how they plan to incorporate their personal Mustang inspirations into one-of-a-kind T-shirt designs.

Although icon Anna Sui has never owned her own Mustang, she expressed to WWD (WomansWearDaily) that it was her dream car and is “pleased to explore my creativity through this collaboration and celebrate Mustang’s spirit and role in pop culture over the last 50 years.”

Sui’s effortless ability to fuse vintage looks with ‘current cultural obsessions’ makes her a perfect candidate for this creative journey. Each designer will be creating three shirts and we cannot wait for the unveiling of this 15-shirt collection, which goes on international sale this fall!

In exciting news, Dior is opening a new women’s wear store that will take over three floors of retail space on the corner of Post Street and Grant Avenue. This property was barely on the market for a month before Dior– which is owned by LVMH– snatched it up. This move is BIG for Dior, since their previous boutique location—which overlooked Union Square, didn’t even comprise a quarter of their new space.

This grand opening marks another significant milestone in the San Francisco retail market and adds to the remarkable LVMH retail presence already surrounding this downtown building which includes Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Hermès stores; as well as the nearby Dior Homme boutique. Within this two-block radius shoppers can also pay a visit to many other fashion and beauty spots including Chanel, Thomas Pink, Benefit, and Sephora. We can’t wait to visit this new Christian Dior space and expect it will include many exclusive finds along with striking aesthetics!