Behind the scenes at an Anusha shoot!

A bit of last-minute prep before the model arrives: checking the background works with the outfits, moving any distracting objects and ensuring the lighting's right.



Claudia works her magic on Ellenie. She's super-quick, creating three or four different looks in a day - from simple daytime styles to dramatic evening hair and make-up.



Final tweaks – jewellery is added, and Sarah's hair and make-up are checked one last time before shooting begins.



Strike a pose: Anusha's regular (and pregnant!) photographer, Louise, does her thing.


A quick coffee break, and images are downloaded onto the Mac, so we can check how they look on screen.

Malabar prawn curry

Saturday night is Mr Anusha's night to try out a new recipe. Spicy seems to be his speciality, and this week he made Deep Mohan Singh Arneja's Southern Indian prawn curry. Don't be put off by the list of ingredients - it's really tasty, and pretty quick to make.

Our only tweak: we'd recommend using less coconut milk, as a whole tin gives it quite a strong flavour.



Image via jamieoliver.com

Autumn contact sheets

Here's a peak at a couple of contact sheets from the autumn shoot.

MASCo Walcot photoshoot

I've just finished a two-day shoot at MASCo Architectural Salvage this week. MASCo are new to Walcot Street in Bath (their main yard is in the Cotswolds) and the location was a dream backdrop for a fashion shoot.

A big thanks to Steve Tomlin and Lindsey Orr, who made all of us so welcome. I've just discovered that Steve has worked with one of my favourite garden designers, Sir Roy Strong, for nearly 20 years, sourcing architectural elements for his Herefordshire Laskett garden. And following work with Grand Designs, Steve has lectured with Kevin McCloud on environmental issues (MASCo champions the need for reuse and upcycling, rather than recycling - follow their Sustainability Blog here).

The Walcot showroom sells a range of original architectural features, period items and traditional building materials plus they provide a research and sourcing service for designers, architects and planners.

The best Sunday lunch in the west!

Went for a walk with friends today, and then had the most amazing Sunday lunch at The Fox at Broughton Gifford. The whole joint is served at the table complete with heaps of roast potatoes, steamed vegetables and jugs of gravy. Everything is locally sourced and cooked to perfection.

There are a lot of great foodie pubs around Bath, but this is the best one by far...

Spring/summer 2011

I took a break from working on the autumn collection to go to Pure trade show at Olympia today. Catwalk shows, seminars and lots of walking to take in all the new collections! What's in store for summer 2011? Folk, macramé, smocking, pintucking, ruching, diaphanous organza, 40s-inspired eveningwear, maxis (still), bold florals, drawstring, tearing...

Food, walks, family and friends

I had a fab weekend... seeing my nephew; wandering around the botanical gardens with Mr Anusha; food and chats with my lovely friend Claire and her gorgeous boys; a sunny Sunday walk in the country; tea in the garden.

Tired but happy today.