How to look glamorous in the countryside!

Living in London can be so incredibly exhausting, that an escape from the city every now and again seems to be the only way for me not to go completely insane. So when my dear friends; the supermodel and animal welfare advocate Juliet Johns Pearson and her dashing husband Charlie, invited me for the weekend to their mansion in the beautiful English countryside, I literally jumped for joy. I’ve been dreaming about the country living experience ever since I watched Gosford Park (I thought I would make a perfect Sylvia McCordle) and have been planning in my head a whole new wardrobe for just such an invitation. I couldn’t imagine better designers than Ralph Lauren (Ralph Lauren Collection) or Burberry to go with the country look and was dying to see if haute couture dresses and high heels could actually be made a part of country living, just like in those beautiful ad campaigns I’m sure you’ve all seen. How to look glamorous in the countryside!

I was very skeptical about the prospect of high heels in the country, the second I got out of the car and stepped into deep mud. Thankfully I packed my Jimmy Choo wellies (that literally saved my life that weekend). As part of my country living experience, or the idealistic, non-realistic idea of it, Juliet was a great sport and played along wearing couture for most of my stay. I say most because it got so cold at one point that even the offer of a free pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes wouldn’t get us out of our Uggs. Yes, it’s not a smudge on your computer screen and you are indeed reading correctly. I Dominique de Merteuil wore Uggs over the weekend and I’m not ashamed to admit it! It’s Beyond My Control.

Drinking Champagne for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the time in between. Eating caviar through the whole weekend, all of it in beautiful surroundings, enjoying the company of very creative friends made me forget about the cold and made me want to stay in the countryside forever. I know very well, that no place is perfect even the most beautiful castles and Chateaus, but I would always choose the smell of flowers, trees, and burning wood in the fireplace, the feeling of tranquility that the countryside provides, over the busy, overcrowded city. Only if I could wear couture that is.

Gosford Park

Kristin Scott Thomas as Sylvia McCordle in Gosford Park.

Ralph Lauren AW 2012/2013 campaign.

Vogue US September Issue 2009. Photography: Steven Meisel. Models: Karen Elson, Coco Rocha, Liya Kebede, Sasha Pivovarova and Viktoriya Sasonkina.

Juliet Johns Pearson wearing; Betsy Johnson coat and a vintage hat. Moi wearing;Burberry coat, Hermes scarf and Jimmy Choo Wellies.

Juliet Pearson with Georgiana Josephine Pearson.

I’m wearing; M Marciano jacket,vintage dress and a hat specially designed for Juliet Pearson.

Juliet Pearson wearing Tiffany Rose with Georgiana Josephine Pearson.

The Lady of the Manor Cupcake Pearson!

Country Living

The garden.