The Invisible Woman

Everyone’s heard of Charles Dickens, but considerably less know of Nelly Turnan, the young woman who was to become his secret lover until his death.

#100happydays : DAYS 11-20

I love how over the last few weeks the #100happydays concept has really taken off. My Facebook and Twitter feeds have been full of people posting pictures of what makes them happy, and surely this kind of positivity can only be a good thing when the weather's so depressing and deadlines are popping up all over the place. As January draws to a close and my stress levels increase, having something to smile about each day is a total God send.

Elie Saab Haute Couture S/S 2014

My fashion posts are normally limited to red carpets where I'm honestly a little more focussed on the film or event itself - the excellent fashion on display is merely a wonderful coincidence and it allows me to kill two birds with one stone by combining my interests. However, I adore everything about each fashion week and spend hours on the Vogue website obsessing over new looks from my favourite designers. Even though I don't normally blog about them, the recent Elie Saab collection from Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week was so beautiful I changed my mind and felt it merited a post.

Coriolanus

Booking tickets to see Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse was almost as stressful as last minute exam revision. Within 28 minutes of the box office opening the entire run had sold out in a frenzied fight over limited seats. Somewhere in amongst frantic refreshing I managed to secure what felt like a golden ticket, and had I not been on the ball I certainly wouldn’t have been so lucky. It was well worth the stress, though, as Josie Rourke’s Coriolanus proved to be a gripping and intense production with a powerhouse performance from man of the hour, Tom Hiddleston.

SAG Awards 2014 Best Dressed

The awards season marathon continues, and last night saw the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards at Los Angeles' Shrine Exposition Centre. The SAG awards are the only televised awards ceremony to exclusively celebrate the best of film and television acting, with 13 awards for individual performances and ensemble casts. American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave and Dallas Buyers Club fully cemented themselves as the front runners in the awards race (as if it wasn't already apparent…); and in television Breaking Bad has ended on a total high, continuing to sweep up awards following the explosive series finale last year.

Critics' Choice Awards 2014 Best Dressed

Last night saw yet another glittering red carpet in Hollywood, this time for the Critics' Choice Awards at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The accolades are awarded by the Broadcast Film Critics' Association (BFCC) and claim to be the most accurate predictor for the Academy Awards - nominations for which were announced yesterday morning.

#100happydays : DAYS 1-10

My New Year's Resolutions are always highly ambitious and I'm pretty much guaranteed to break them a fortnight in. I've never been able to keep a diary, don't have the time to start learning a new language now and find it impossible to go to bed before midnight. They've always been doomed to fail from the beginning, so this year I was desperately in search of something more attainable, that I'd enjoy doing, and that I wouldn't beat myself up about if I wobbled temporarily off track.

Golden Globes 2014 Best Dressed

Our cinemas and television screens are currently fit to bursting with more incredible films and exceptionally gripping and enthralling programmes than normal, so it must be that time of the year: awards season is finally upon us! The a-list are going to be out in full force over the next few weeks and they kicked off the season in spectacular style at last night's Golden Globe awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Sleeping Beauty

Thanks to so many bad experiences with panto, I've always figured that I'd been put off for life. To me it's always been tacky, childish and an exercise to be avoided at all costs thanks to my annual primary school trip. It was always a disaster: something went wrong on stage, the audience frequently loved to heckle and it was universally awful. As my first forays into theatre were through panto it's a miracle that I stuck with it to become such a huge fan of the stage today.

However, I'm a firm believer in second chances and although I disliked an awful lot (everything) about the primary school trips to Crewe I wasn't about to let bad memories of shocking productions taint my opinion of panto now. Surely it's deserving of a second chance? I wanted to do something quintessentially Christmassy to mark the end of my last Michalemas Term at university and so I leapt at the chance to see Sleeping Beauty at the Park Theatre. Would this shake my long standing hatred of panto or confirm my previous theories were correct?

Best Dressed 2013

Awards season is almost upon us and a tidal wave of red carpet fashion is about to hit. It's without doubt my favourite time of the year, and for me there's nothing better than when everything I love collides over the next few months. It's this combination of film and fashion that inspired me to begin doing Best Dressed lists, focusing primarily on my favourite awards.

Since I started I've become much more aware of what styles I like and which I really don't, which designers I covet, and who I know will always display sartorial excellence. Although I don't do blog posts on them all I'm always glued to reports on premieres, festivals and talk shows not only because of the films and the gossip, but also to scope out the fashion.

It only seems fitting to round off 2013 with a selection of the looks that I've simply adored and the people who just seem to constantly get it right fashion-wise over the last twelve months.