i am a kinder girl

As per yesterday ('red head'), more from Kinder Aggugini's show. You know how with a film, you never know it will really stay with you until after some time goes by? Well that's what's happened for me with Kinder. He is growing on me more and more. I mean, I LOVED his show at the time, but now, looking thru my photos.. so many powerful, diverse looks, but all the same voice.



These are so seemingly simple: black, or white. He's making such luxury out of what seems to be mohair, but it gives a texture like fur.. over pleats, but they're soft. And I love how he's paired them with bare legs and these lovely beige suede boots. And the HAIR.. this blonde model has a great kind of sixties bed head, but some of the dark haired models have these really severe geometric pointy buns, that look painted on. It's a stunning effect.



Everything he does has a perfect balance between masculine and feminine, hard and soft, luxurious and casual. (Actually Shini of Park & Cube put it best: 'powerful yet lyrical, borderline androgynous yet...acutely underlined femininity.'

And the details (like this little dotted ribbon trim, INSIDe, that's just revealed when it falls open).

Having had the privilege of seeing his show, I'm definitely a Kinder kind of girl.

got your back

And it's the only shot I did get. Before the Topshop Unique show, London Fashion Week.

kind of like the easter parade, only different

Good morning, kittens! (& the odd puppy reading this: I know you're out there, guys ; )

This girl was the star of London Fashion Week. EVERYONE was shooting her. For anyone who stayed home because they thought they weren't thin enough, tall enough, stylish enough, or their clothes expensive enough, the Girl in the Dungerees (or 'Overalls', as we called them as kids on Long Island - dungerees were the term my mom used for all denim jeans) was the star in the show. And an adorable girl, too: long eyelashes, and a modest, lovely smile.



The weird thing about LFW is that there are people who just go there to be photographed. It's like, when I was a kid, my mom (who grew up in NYC) said everyone went to the Easter Parade to be photographed for the newspapers in their new hat. Or perhaps I'm thinking of the film. In my memory, real life & films get all scrambled up.

I remember especially the line 'a photographer will snap you, and you'll find that you're in the rotogravure' and always wondered what that word meant (it's a printing process the newspapers used).





I've got her name jotted down somewhere... I'm sure you've seen her on someone's blog already. You can get a similar hat @ Pachacuti, they're the most gorgeous hats in all styles & colours, all ethically sourced in Panama.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. The sun is out in South Kensington, and shortly, so am I!

silent muses

You know, it's just occurred to me: by not posting my fashion week shots right away - by just getting caught up in the moment and leaving the bulk til I recovered - this must seem so old hat & ho hum to you, the reader. It's like holiday snaps: you go to Paris and shoot the Eiffel Tower & it's such an amazing experience - and you try to get the best shot you can of it - and then when you return home & put it up on facebook (or, in the previous century, a photo album) and.. well, you get my drift.

I've got wonderful shots of people that you have seen already a zillion times on other blogs, and perhaps in a few months, I'll show you them. But I leave the really weird ones: the people who dress for fashion week to make it onto the blogs: for someone else. Altho... there are a few I can't resist... ; )

Besides as you might know by now, I'm kind of boring in my taste. I'm not, by nature, drawn to weird. I like classic with a twist, I like subtlety & clever touches. Quirky yet worky. Like this girl - whose name I never know, we never got chatty, but still dutifully poses for me anyway. A silent muse.

Can you see the nice touch of her metallic top & necklace under that jacket? That's how I like to use grey right now: cool metal, warmed by the sunshine of tan. Or maybe I'm simply longing for sunshine, in any form.



Another silent muse: I never introduced myself, but I saw this guy around, being all warm & sunny. I am so loving camel's hair right now, and the unfussy, unself conscious way he's dressed. I've never seen a man wear a paisley shirt so unaffectedly.

self portrait: gulf stream

This year, one of the delightful surprises of LFW was that my favourite Lavazza truck had upgraded to vintage silver Gulf Stream! Same excellent coffee & friendly crew, but also amazing crepes. My favourite was thinly sliced chorizo, cheddar, onion jam, cherry tomatoes, and rocket. Heaven.

I'm wearing: old kitten heel pale pink & turquoise suede pumps from Blue Velvet, 'vintage' (i.e., ancient) DKNY pale pink tights from my NY days, and a very old, totally ripped cream cotton Adrienne Vittandini jumper that must have been an ex boyfriend's, but I haven't a clue which one. All we know is, it's not Mr. Dot's. He couldn't believe I wore it to fashion week. It's so Rodarte.

Some people even wanted to shoot me in it. One guy said I looked 'glamourous, but unravelling at the edges'. I laughed & said that pretty much sums me up.

caution: sheer drop

You know what it's like: even with everyone having mobile phones, sometimes you can be in the same place and just can't get it together. Other times, you just keep bumping into the same person.

I love the randomness of fashion week: so many people, and, it's chance (or, serendipity) who will become your muses. The people you start to do a series on. My first time, one of them was Rhiannon. This year, we kept missing each other: missed messages, etc. But my friend Jen the Style Crusader did.



Well this year, Sam became a recurring theme for me. This is her Day Two look (I've yet to show you Day One, but I will). Her boots are from Zara, and I asked her to sit on the railing (or, balistrade, as the sign says), but then I didn't like the sign in the shot. But considering she really was risking her life for the photo, it seemed kind of cruel to make her move. Besides, she seemed so comfortable, balancing precariously like that. (I should explain: right behind her - behind the balistrade - are the steep stairs. It's about a two story fall backwards onto sharp stone stairs, hence the sign).

I like her combination of black and cool taupey tan (griege: the same warm stone tan as the architecture of Somerset House itself) and the textures: suede boots, either leather or latex black leggings, the great bag, simple elegant tailored black blazer.. the elements are clean and relatively simple, it's not boring, but it all adds up to something that's somehow classic with a twist, and ladylike. And I love the touch of the one black leather glove: homage to Michael Jackson.

we are all unique

It's just that some of us had to wait at the lovely Topshop venue to get into the show: others were fast tracked in.

Still, waiting was a great opportunity to catch up with friends, old & new, and snap a few pics. And it was soooo worth the wait.

running to the loo

One thing about London Fashion Week that everyone was bitching about - perhaps the only thing - is that at Somerset House, the nearest loo is outside and down these long stone steps. In the constant wet cold weather, in heels... I can't believe no one died. Especially since most of us were texting while we were navigating them.

But the nice thing is, because the steps are so narrow, and this being England and all, there was a lot of polite smiling & excuses me's - it's a nice way to meet new people.



Shot these in rapid succession - under a minute, I"m guessing - while running to the loo. The shoes first...



...then this guy, above, then the red haired model. As I ran past him I asked if I could shoot him. 'I am Thibault,' he said in total monotone. 'I am French.'

Yes you are, Thibault*. Very French indeed.

(Pronounced TEE-bow. Our wonderful French neighbour across the mews has the same first name.)

totally rad maddy ford

Mr. Dot, being a rather type A personality, gets up at 6:00 even on the weekends. Usually he wakes me around 7:30 with a cup of tea (before you get all 'aww, how sweet', it's usually accompanied by 'Get up, Jill, we've got to get to blah blah blah & are leaving in 20 minutes.' It's like being on perpetual tour).

Well this morning he also said 'you've been getting a ton of visitors, too many for a Saturday morning.'

Good old sitemeter: (any bloggers that don't have it: it's totally addicting, you can find out where people are coming from to your blog). Turns out people were googling my post on Maddy Ford, who I met in December. It was actually Mr. Dot who found her outside Green & Stone on the King's Road (he had asked me to pick out coloured pencils for him, and, being type A, was already out the door while I was paying, and he found her & thought she'd be great for my Great Motel Rocks Challenge).

And she was. You can read the original post by clicking here. (The title comes from one of my favourite bloggers on the planet: Christi, in California,of thats so rad - fabulous photographer & photo-artist and all round totally rad human being).

I really liked Maddy: she had just moved to London from the country, and we had such a great honest chat & fun shoot. She struck me as a generous spirit, a gentle soul. Even a bit vulnerable, but then again, she had just moved to a big city. I meant to stay in touch with her, but then it was Christmas, and we went away..

So now I'm reading all this alleged stuff about Peter Andre (who also seems so nice: happy birthday, Peter!) & I couldn't give a toss about celebrity gossip - my own life is interesting enough, thank you, and it's none of my business - but I just want to go on record as saying: she's got my support.

Men: can't live with 'em, can't kill them. And they wake you up too early. But they can be so damn cute sometimes, don't you think?

red head

Speaking of redheads... I've been wanting to post on the Kinder Aggugini show since I saw him last Saturday at LFW. Everything about that show: the music, the set with his wonderful elegant props, the models, and especially, the clothes.. just absolutely perfect in every way.



Why haven't I posted sooner? Because I can't narrow the photos down! I love every look so much. I just love this guy so damn much, words can't express it. He is from 'Milan via Glasgow' and his work is so quirky-yet-worky, IMHO. Don't you just love that phrase? Unlike underwear-as-outerwear, I can't claim to have coined it: I read it in a Times piece (on another great talent, btw: Richard Nicholl), by an excellent journalist named Luke Leitch.



This is just ONE look. And it was hard to choose which shots. But that's the brilliance of blogs: I can always post more. After all, as Scarlett O'Hara so wisely said, tomorrow is another day.

Off to see The Lovely Bones with my man. Have a lovely Saturday, mon petit Chaufleurs!

life in the circus: nicola roberts @ topshop unique

After the Unique show: I thought this redhead looked familiar.. correct me if I'm wrong, but this is Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud, is that right?



I love the electric blue of that stoic guy's tie. He's not there for the fashion, I'm guessing. I think it's Kevin Costner in the Bodyguard.



In the background, poor Olivia doing another interview, and that teeny tiny grey head at the top is Pixie, who was unwittingly blocking my view of the show. Bless her cotton socks.

unique pixie head pics (no one puts baby in the corner)

The Topshop Unique catwalk show in London was held in the basement of this fabulous white-painted space - a flower hall in Covent Garden. Fabulous space and wonderful crowd. The 'catwalk' snaked thru the crowd - which was vast - and was marked by these kind of wood chips. The models were styled as jungle animals (I can't stop singing 'If I were King of the Jungle' as I post this) and it was all just perfect, except this one head kept getting in the way of me getting good shots. After a while I just figured, screw it: I'll leave the good shots to the professionals, you'll forgive me if I don't post clear shots, and I just relaxed & enjoyed the show.



It wasn't til later - til the show ended and the REAL circus began - the media frenzy - that I realised that it was little Pixie Geldorf's head, blocking my view.



And tho I didn't notice it at the time, Olivia Palermo was just in front of me, on the left.. and I spotted some familiar faces across the catwalk aisle.. Kate Lamphor, who I'd just met & shot, at Somerset House..



and of course, the Sart, aka Scott, who I shot last summer: no one puts baby in the corner.

hot pink!

Before Jaeger, at the reception @ Somerset House, this girl in pink,* and her friend & colleague Lucy, of 'fashion me now', in vintage brown fur & tweeds, were the absolute stars for me, in a room that also housed celebrities.



*(Natalie Hughes, of Canned Fashion, as I've just been informed by the Little Curly Girl: I did think it was Natalie when we chatted but I so often get it wrong, and I didn't have time to write it down -and I don't trust my memory, I've met so many people this week!)



In fact I'd go so far as to say that those two trends: hot pink, and topknots, are two of my favourites of the week.



I love everything about this look: the perky retro sixties shape of that gorgeous soft cashmere looking coat, the way she's paired it with a greyish beigeish chunky jumper with just the right sleeve poking out, her eyeliner & thick lashes & even - can you see? - her griege nails. I wonder if she's got the last bottle of the Chanel 505 Particuliere? It's sold out, girls, but you can still grab it on eBay for a mere £44. Altho, with 8 days to go, that price could rise.

Both these girls, IMHO, have so got the 2010 quirky-yet-worky classic with a twist look down to a T.

deer in the headlights: olivia palermo @ unique

For those of you in America, you might not believe this, most of us in the UK haven't heard of Olivia Palermo. (But then again, until a few years ago, it was hard to believe you hadn't heard of Victoria Beckham). And as for the rest of the world, you might even be thinking, who cares.

The only reason I knew who she was is because I love following the Red Carpet Fashion Awards, and I'd often vote for her for best red carpet look. I was so curious I even looked her up on wikipedia. You see, we don't get The City here (if they did show it, they'd have to call it 'Oh By the Way There is Another City on the Planet Besides London').



Before we went into the Topshop Unique show, I was shooting people being fast tracked into the vast, amazing Topshop flower market venue. And I saw this girl who just radiated such beautiful niceness, entering alone and sans entourage (and also, surprisingly in hindsight, unnoticed), but when I shot her, my flash went off. She glanced up, startled, & we smiled and waved. I still didn't know who she was. The photo wasn't very good, and I'd probably have deleted it later.



But after the show, there was suddenly this absolute media feeding frenzy for a few people right in front of me: Peaches, for starts (or was it Pixie?) and Olivia. People kept asking me who is this girl and I'd try and explain. I was right next to her, just shooting her while she did the interviews, and man, it was scary as hell. I only experienced it for a few minutes, and it was exhausting. And, in the midst of all that madness, strangely lonely.

Finally, she was done. A minder was dragging her off, so I simply said:

'I didn't shoot you earlier because of who you were: I thought you were just a pretty girl.' She looked at me for a moment, one human being to another, as if to say 'thank you for not wanting anything from me.' She thanked me, smiled a real smile, and was whisked away.



(Oh and btw: she's in top to toe Topshop, of course. And those wood chips formed the catwalk that snaked thru the space: more on that in a future post.)

It is such a strange world. There were countless pretty girls in the vast room who escaped unnoticed and undocumented. True, she has an absolutely beautiful face: from a photographer's point of view, she is perfection, because she radiates something so pure from within. I've seen people put on that professional smile, but she truly smiles with her eyes.



It's funny, when you're in the midst of the storm that is a fashion week, you only later discover other people had similar experiences. I've been meaning to post this, and just discovered that Garance, too, posted on Olivia, and said something similar, but more succinctly, but it all boils down to the same things: it takes a special person to handle this kind of media circus with dignity and grace.

you say yes, i say no

Nao* is a journalist from Japan, who lives in London & writes for Japanese publications. Everything is vintage. Every time I've seen her, she's in subtle shades of white and cream. Her style is so totally her own.

(*apologies: I spelt it wrong, it's pronounced 'No' and I think she does styling as well as writes on fashion: she's very busy & understandably so).

You say goodbye, and I say hello.

lime green

Also after Kane.



When it rains on Kane, there really are two ways to go: dress for the weather (black, muted tones & shades of grey) or be bold, and bright.



Sometimes the brightness is all in your head. There was a lot of red (for hair) - a whole range, from flaming orange to magenta - last season, and not only hasn't that trend cooled off, it's now widened its range to shades of pink & even peach.

Speaking of Peaches, lots o' girls are following her lead, and going grey (or white, as they call it). Actually, I guess it's really Kate Lamphor who started that one. Anabelle, shown here, accents her white with lavender highlights, which sparkle in the right light.

As for me, I try to let a smile be my umbrella.

indigo

I ran into Indigo Clarke, who I met with Garance after Kane, the next day in the Press Lounge (a day at fashion week is like a year in dog years), and we then sat and had the most incredible talk about.. everything. Mostly about generous spirited, unenvious, noncompetitive women, and how much we like them.

There is so much I didn't expect about what the fashion world is about - it is so beyond different from my expectations. I have never seen, as a group, more warm, generous, creative, fun, happy people in one space. Today I also met a lot of great guys: it's not all about girls. But the majority of time I've been hanging around with old souls of all ages - some as young as 13 - wonderful women I now consider friends.



While we were talking, I kept shooting because she has the most amazing eyes, and altho she kept looking down, self conscious, I got my shots in the end. And made a new friend in the process.

after kane: smoking in the rain

After the Christopher Kane show, all the cool kids were hanging out on the street corner in the rain, smoking.

I remember reading or hearing when I was a girl, that only Parisian women had style. I remember two things specifically: they knew how to tie a scarf round their neck, and they knew how to smoke.



So when I ran into my Garance Dore outside the Topshop flowers venue after the show* I didn't know if she wanted me photographing her smoking. She laughed at the very idea of it being an issue. How.. American of me. (We had already had a lovely chat the day before, when I met her at Somerset House with Scott. She is as warm and friendly as everyone says, and no, I'm not going to tell you what we talked about, it's private).




She was with the brilliant and delightful fashion journalist and girl about town Indigo Clarke, who among other things blogs for Harpers Bazaar Australian, altho she's currently based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I'll save my portrait of her for later cause my husband, Mr. Dot, feels this is too long a post, and he's the boss.




*(BTW I didn't see the show: if you didn't either, here are some photos & the live streaming is here. Lots o' black leather & lace, all prettified with flowers: slightly peasant, slightly girly, but with an edgy twist. Cool.)