12.11.10

leopard variations



Here's my dilemma: I've got so much I want to show you, photographically. I am practically paralysed with indecision. Like a lot of you, I'm sure, I've been to some amazing press events - it's still going on and will continue to - and while in some ways, like the artists in Paris in the 20s who hung out together and competed in a healthy way to urge each other on to new directions, I do find that when my peers and friends are posting the day they've been to an event, I feel like a lazy cow in comparison, but it's not my nature.

I work hard, spend a lot of time in photoshop, editing, dodging and burning and just generally inhabiting my imaginary world - photos are for me, memories - but in the same way that my friends and even my own sister would just gobble down the Halloween candy on the night, I'm a hoarder. I hoard my images and release them in bits and pieces.

All this as an excuse and apology to all the wonderful people who have worked hard for the press events I've been to thus far: please be patient, I'll be releasing them over time - and an intro to the ongoing Endangered Species series.

This one, above, is one of my favourites. I never saw the girl's face. I don't even know if this is a real fur: it has that authentic, albeit vintage, feel. I just love the way she's styled it. That's exactly how I'd wear a coat that scale.



Next up: same day, also at S/S 2011 fashion week @ Somerset House in September: a girl in the press room. I love that kind of fuzzy.. what's the word for that kind of jumper? Word's in the tip of my tongue. It reminded me of one I saw the same time, on Haneli (I didn't know who she was at the time - but everyone else did. Model, photographer, blogger. Style icon. And her blog is absolutely brilliant.)



Uncanny, actually: both women paired it with a kind of blue/grey accent: the girl in the press room with that fabulous cocktail ring (I have no wish list, per se, but if I did, a great cocktail ring would be on the top of the list), and with Haneli, her nails.



Speaking of leopard: last December I got the idea to do a series I called The Great Motel Challenge - borrowed a faux leopard print coat from Motel Rocks (which I now own), and wore it around town and asked strangers to pose in it. (Here's me, two girls @ the V&A, but in probably the freakiest thing, I did a post with a girl I met on the King's Road ('totally rad maddy') and when the tabloids went wild for about 15 minutes last spring, that Peter Andre had had an affair after he was divorced and Katie Price was going mental and 'obsessively googling her love rival's photo' I could actually SEE on my sitemeter, one address in Sussex going to that post over & over. I was watching Katie cyberstalk Maddie Ford in my coat!)

I've just checked and they're still selling them - 85 quid - click here. If you buy one please tell me in a comment - it would really impress the people at Motel, to know I've got that kind of selling power ; )

ANYWAY.. as I'll be wearing it today - baby it's cold outside outside - I might just keep this Challenge going another season. Why not? If the shoe fits, and all that.

16 comments:

Shopgirl said...

I think I have said this before but now it is becoming a kind of obsessive need - I NEED a leopard print coat!!!

I also love the pink jumpers on those girls - have been searching high and low for one to chuck on but to no avail :(

Just keep your lovely photos coming - they always brighten my day :)

Style At Every Age said...

Seeing the long coat in the first picture makes me wish I had never had the one I bought taken up into a jacket, I just felt it was to glamourous and that I would only wear it at night!

jill said...

That's the thing about glam: you can always dress it down.

Pret: so are you. ; )

Shopgirl: I've added a bit at the end of this post - 2nd to last paragraph - that's a click thru to the same coat I have. £85! x

The Photodiarist said...

But Hanneli has a "name" necklace. How couldn't you know her?

(kidding). I just got from a flea market a 1940s coat that is real fur (ocelot). I had no idea what ocelot was until I bought it. Now I am a bit freaked out by it. It looks like the first coat so I am willing to bet the first coat is real fur probably from the 40s/50s.

Shopgirl said...

Ooooh no!! I want it soooo much but am on a no shopping for me policy until all of the Christmas shopping is done. Maybe I get treat myself to just one thing...!!

styleeast said...

Keep the leopard print coming, we love it! I adore the first look, the coat with shoes and socks. I agree with you that like this would be the only way to wear it! x

ps - i haven't gone shooting this afternoon, neither the leg or the weather is up to it!

SabinePsynopsis said...

I so do love the first photo. Her relaxed stride and nonchalance... When I was a teenager one of my friends wore one of her mum's fur coats to school and she had the exact oh-I-just-pulled-that-out-of-the-wardrobe-my-mum-gets-heaps-of-them-from-her-lovers attitude. xoxo

Style Souk said...

For me - and, really, I know very little! - nothing imparts gravitas, sex, intrigue and wit more than leopard.

Sarah x

http://stylesouk.wordpress.com

mtg said...

ha-ha! I actually thought the first girl was you!

Adorngirl said...

leopard is timeless!

thanks for reminding us to take our time with our memories, poeple always go on about how snap happy I am as I take so many pictures when I go to an event, those pictures, are my memory, and my notebook, I love to sift through them at the end of he night picking the best shot to sum up an atmosphere

i finally have a weekend free to do that with the press days, really go throught the designs, and images that I love that will put across a story.

Anonymous said...

Thank you all. Sarah @ Style Souk: beautifully written.

Photodiarist: haha. Yeah, the necklace should have been my first hint.

Sabine: your friend sounds so cool. AND her mother.

Jen East: I didn't even get to the East End! (will email to make a plan).

and last but not least, Adorngirl, I feel the same way, tomorrow is my plan to start sifting thru my treasures ; )

Just realised I didn't sign in first - but it's me, Polka Dot, signing off. xo

koast to koast said...

absolutely LOVE all these looks!!!
WANT IT ALLLL!!!!

xo kelsey and kayti
http://www.koastokoast.com/

Anonymous said...

oh, how cure hanneli looks ...got same necklace, but in silver and with mine name of course! haha! xoxo

Anonymous said...

Hey Jill! Your post definitely prompted my blog post about the leopard print trend. Definitely love the trend and I reckon it's something that's doable because there are so many ways to incorporate it. On a side note: love the fuzzy sweater and the oxfords (oxfords-fiend that I am). Love your blog!

- Kim

Anonymous said...

Is mohair the word you are looking for?

oliver Prout said...

That coat is mad
Oli
fashion photography