Style de la semaine

There has been some seriously stylish goings on in the world of celebrity this last week. With some celebs making a surprise first entry into the charts.

Carey Mulligan is one savvy fashionista. It seems like every other day she is appearing on a best dressed list, and with statement looks like this it is no surprise. Working a stunning red Prabel Gurun with ruffled corsage bodice, Carey picked up the Best Actress Award for her role in Never Let Me Go at the BIFAs in London. This look was all about understated items teamed together to create an elegant and breath-taking outfit. Like a true style icon, Carey teamed the simple silk dress with black peep toe heels and a modern printed clutch.

Liv Tyler opted for a cheeky, flirty number at a charity event in New York. I just love this yellow feathery skirt with silver embellished belt. Liv kept the rest of her outfit simple, teaming the skirt with a black blazer, black tee, opaque tights and black heels. Hair was kept minimalist to ensure all eyes were on the fun party skirt, but Liv couldn't resist a flash of red lipstick - suits you Miss.

Going from strength to strength in the style department, Girls Aloud singer Kimberly Walsh shows us what she's made of this week. Miss Walsh upped her style credentials at the British Fashion Awards teaming nude heels and clutch with a strapless bustier top and a bright, jewel green silk skirt. An outfit that on paper should not work, looked fabulous and was polished off perfectly with long glossy curls, a flash of sexy red lips and delicate gold drop earrings.

Other stars of the show this week include Blake Lively at the Annual Footwear Awards in New York. Ms Lively shone in a Prabal Gurung metallic green wrap around mini dress. The highlight of her outfit, however, were the mouth watering tan and black patterned Christian Louboutin shoeboot heels.

Sporting a bandage purple silk and sheer lace Zuhair Murad creation, Katie Perry sizzles somewhere between sexy and demure at the Jingle Ball in LA. Her hair and make-up show her winning credentials, and the Brian Atwood nude heels finish it all off perfectly.

Book Club - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I first tried to read this novel over a year ago, I picked it up, read the first page and felt underwhelmed and disappointed. I put it down and added it to my 'will read one day' list. With a Hollywood film of the novel being released this winter (and with no less than a talented star studded cast), now seemed the ideal moment to give it another go. I am so glad I did.

This time around there was no hesitant, slow beginning that I remembered (or possibly imagined) from before. Instead, there was a strong and distinct voice that gripped me from the first page. It begins somewhat hauntingly: 'My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.'

The novel follows Kathy, a 31 year old carer living in England in the late 1990s, as she looks back over her schools. What at first seems like a near-perfect childhood, full of caring guardians, fun classes and friendships, soon alters into something chilling and sinister. Words such as 'donations', 'students' and 'complete' suddenly take on new, significant but unexplained meaning.

Although a science-fiction novel in topic, there is no sign of this in the text. At the centre of the story is the enduring friendship between Kathy, Tommy and Ruth. Ishiguro refuses to discuss the finer details of cloning, making the occasional references to the process all the more terrifying.

In fact, understatement is used to great effect in the novel. The students' quiet acknowledgement of what they face in the future (they consider it to be their duty, the reader considers to be an inhumane injustice), only emphasises the reader's feelings of frustration on their behalf. The novel raises piercing questions about exploitation and humanness, more through the subtle and precise voice than through the topic itself. This stirs a range of emotions in the reader from compassion to guilt to shock.

What Kathy is unsure of, the reader is left in the dark about, and it is this excruciating curiosity that pushes the story along. Of course, the mystery and illusion keeps the reader hooked till the final word. This is one of the many strengths of the novel. Ishiguro has struck gold. There is a strong plot, careful and intelligent characterisation, and a beautifully quiet but occasionally melancholy narrative. A heart wrenching, intriguing and worthwhile read.