the complete is more than the sum of its pieces

I am typing this with my left hand in hot pink and my right hand in bright orange.

This is a colour combination I've been wearing since... oh at least 1998, when I first went to Spain. Once it gets warm, and my skin gets tan, chances are one of my feet will have pink toenails, and the other, orange.

These are my friends, Maria and Izzy. They are gorgeous girls, and really, really nice. And smart. And polite. And creative. And they just happened to be wearing pink and orange recently (yes, this is recently: the weather here is daft: daffs and snorkel coats, no wonder the British talk about the weather so much: it's just so freaking unpredictable). And don't even get me started on the Ash Cloud!

I do a bit of screenwriting from time to time, and that whole concept would never pass the first draft. I keep thinking 'how would I explain this to someone from another planet?' or, someone who just woke from a coma. I almost wish I could FIND someone who was in a coma all last week, just so I could tell them how a volcano in Iceland - that no one could see - could so majorly screw everything up.



I was also thinking about colour (I think about colour a lot) and how I love these colours together more than I like each colour separately. Like with yellow: I just like it more mixed with a lot of neutrals, and some pink.. I think of the colours at a bullfight: the brown of the bull, the unique ochre of the sand, the hot pinks and yellows and oranges of the picadors and matador.. and some black. Or, in this case, the unexpected twist of navy.



So, curious, I looked into that quote: the sum of the parts. ("The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.") Actually, it's a rough translation of the Greek, which is: "The complete is more than the sum of its pieces." Which is so wacky, I'm going to leave it there.

Thank you for coming here and visiting, for your lovely comments, for doing the most amazing thing and posting Emily's photo in the American Apparel riding pants.. I am just blown away by your support. I've just started a facebook club, please join it (sorry, LIKE it ; ) you've been dotted. I'm hoping it can become a more democratic way to see the amazing style icons round the world. Please contribute: your own images, or friends whose style you like.



Oh Izzy is moving home this week, so I'm posting this to make her smile. Thankfully, she's still based in London (they sound French but they're actually Bavarian/Hungarian: they're pretty global, those two). I love her spirit, not to mention, her style. And oh, did I mention? She's also a brilliant writer (brains + beauty ONCE AGAIN). Check out her blog: the Princess Diaries.