the gloves are off

Maybe it's because I'm the eldest of three, but it's in my DNA to look out for my younger siblings. So what happened yesterday - when you lovely lovely people started translating what was being said about my friends, who had posed for me, had given me their permission to use their images on MY blog... I can't explain. It wasn't about 'my' photos - it was about THEIR images.

Here's the thing: we all know the code. If you don't have anything nice to say etc. The people who agree to be in posts, either self style posts or strangers on the street for street style: they are not celebrities. Even celebrities have feelings but the truth is, they know it comes with the territory. If their skin isn't thick enough, they're in the wrong business. Besides, those celebrities, let's face it, are not reading the comments on our blogs.

But for self style or street style blogs: we support each other. To be told that the author of 'Bye Bye Madrid' was playing with the theme of these English girls looking cold.. and for someone to be allowed to comment (when I wasn't!) on said blog, that Roz - who had just come out of hospital for major back surgery, who was taking her daily walk on a cold November day (Bonfire Night, to be precise) as per the doctor's orders, as part of her recovery.. legally underage Roz, who posed for photos with her mother and her father watching, WHO DID NOT ASK TO BE CRITIQUED by a group of strangers on Spanish Elle.. to hear people say that her face looked 'cold' - and to know that I could not take those comments down: all I can say is, Carmen B, and your employer, Spanish Elle Magazine: you have chosen the wrong person to mess with.



Say what you like about me: I'm a big girl, and I can take it. But read my lips: this is so not on. Everyone has a dark side, and you are seeing mine.

That said: meet my lovely new friend Marin, or @marinmonroe, her twitter alter ego. I met her last fashion week, and before anyone in Madrid says 'but it's too cold to dress like that' let me say again: I met her in September, and took these photos back then. And she's been sweetly patient ever since, and today, it's time I posted them.

I'm not putting my logo/watermark on. I don't have the time and there doesn't seem the point. I'd like Carmen B to give me back the time I spent these past 20 months, painstakingly putting my watermark on, because those are hours - days - that I will never get back again. These photos are by me, Jill Carin Adams, and they can't be re-published without my permission and consent. If that isn't clear to you, if English is not your language of choice, well that's what Google Translate is there for.



Marin has been such a star: she was one of the first to see my little tweet tweets, my cries for help, and she jumped on the bandwagon and started really fighting my corner. All the while patiently waiting for me to eventually, perhaps, someday, get round to finding those shots and posting. Three months later.

And if anyone has anything remotely less than gushingly positive to say about Marin, do so at your peril. Because I will hunt you down. We can give our opinion, but only if our heart is in the right place. Fashion doesn't matter. Not to me. Feelings do.

And I am feeling so totally grateful to every one of you: those who emailed, commented, or tweeted, but especially, the ones who haven't said anything at all, but I know you're out there.

Marin is wearing: floaty dress and boots from Primark, and the shirt is from H&M. Scarf+bag are vintage and the skull ring you can see in some of the other shots is from the H! by Henry Holland collection @ Debenhams. She could wear this same look today, with a nice thick pair of tights and a big faux furry coat and some nice long leather gloves.

Which, by the way, are totally off.