fashion forward

Got my London Fashion Week registration sorted while in Miami, and now I'm musing: what will the big trends be?

Looking back while looking forward.. I just can't imagine that anything could live up to my first Fashion Week last September. For starts, it was so hot & sunny, and fashionistas were melting in their furs & boots, so we had to get creative & mix little frocks and bear legs with great shoes (not me: I was running around in ballet flats: it's the only way I can shoot). I had such a fabulous time. I just hope the weather is good, as I'm shooting people in the outdoor courtyard. Fingers crossed.



I wonder if we'll see much of the underwear as outerwear trend off the catwalk.

Speaking of.. it's funny, I'm still finding that phrase everywhere in the UK. Magazines, newspapers.. I know I said it before and someone chastised me that I couldn't have possibly invented the trend - which I SO did not - but I'm pretty sure I coined the phrase. @ least, I thought I did! I might have subconsciously picked it up, but I can't find any evidence of the phrase before I posted it last spring. Alas, if only one received royalties for phrases.



After flying in from Miami, I was hanging out @ home in my new purchase: cream coloured men's thermal underwear (top & bottom) from Target. I was going to go out in it - accessorising with boots & bracelets, of course - when my husband, Mr. Dot, said I can't because I'd get 'arrested'. Apparently they're arresting women for wearing pyjamas to Tesco. What next? Will they start incarcerating girls sporting satin bustiers at PR events? Or silky slips @ art launches?



What do you think will be big this spring? Do you think the peep toe bootie/big wedge silhouette will still reign supreme?

Shown here from top to bottom: KTZ catwalk, All Saints window in Spitalfields, boots @ Somerset House, September.

high noon: scotch & soda

There are some moments when everything seems to converge. Just days before the end of the Decade of the Noughties, Mr. Dot & I had just finished a yummy lunch @ Luxe, and it was so cold & there weren't many people around. Streetstyle wise, it was a ghost town. Just before we got in the car, I said, wait one second. Took a quick stroll round the corner of Commercial Road by All Saints.

Within seconds, Odile & Olivier appeared, on a shopping visit from Paris. As I shot them, I saw Sarah & her friends across the street, shot them. I felt like a gunslinger in High Noon. Within the space of 5 minutes, I got four different posts. The other two will have to wait, as Mr. Dot is getting very impatient. He wants to see some fossils at the Natural History Museum. (I know: welcome to my life!) So I will leave you with the sourcing exactly as Odile & Olivier sent it:

Odile
She's wearing a Minä Perhonen coat. It's a japanese brand with finnish inspiration. Look at the embroidery !
The balloon skirt is Promod (cheap French fashion).
The boots are Think (austrian).

Olivier
I'm wearing a G-Star jacket and japanese carpenters' trousers. It actually is a traditionnal cut and is still used by many workers. It's very easy to spot if you go to Japan.
The loop scarf is from Scotch & Soda. I really like the fact that it has no end. Depending on the number of loops, it can look quite different as well, even a sort of rough jabot.
The shoes are a now quite old model by Marithe+Francois Girbaud

(Me again: I was going to ask if you can see the embroidery on Odile's coat. It's gorgeous. Aren't they fabulous. And now I'm really curious about that brand Scotch & Soda! Better run. Hope you're all enjoying your last day of the festive holiday season!!)

we are all sinners, we are all saints

I've got a real dilemma here: a chance trip to meet a friend for lunch in Camden produced such a cache of shots - and THEN, I went back with my husband, Mr. Dot the next day and got even MORE - that if I just posted one a day, I'd still be working thru the pile come next Christmas. And I got such a yummy take away pad thai with lemongrass chicken in Camden Lock, that I am seriously thinking of going back Friday for more!





The thing I found interesting was, the light felt different in that part of town, and the colour palette on the people was more... colourful, certainly, than I'm seeing in the South Kensington/Knightsbridge/Chelsea area (which, in the shadow of the Victoria & Albert Museum, feels, like the railings, in permanent mourning for Albert). But it's not just bright colour: there is a lot more subtle browns, and greens.. that's it! It feels more organic there. Less crisp black and white, more subtle shades of nature, with flashes of flowery pinks, reds, purples, oranges, yellow: just like in a garden.



Case in point: Becca, who, as I later discovered when I wandered into All Saints, works there. I found her on the street during I guess a lunch break, didn't ask what she did or where she got anything (in hindsight: it does look all Saints, don't you think?). Took a few quick snaps - put her in the doorway of a tattoo parlour to get her out of the crowd passing between us - and she's just so damn photogenic, I couldn't decide. Finally narrowed it down to these two very similar shots, so you're getting both today. It's a duo kind of day. The images feel strangely religious: something about the gesture of her hand, it feels quite Christ-like. Or, Buddha.



I absolutely love All Saints: they've got two very similar large branches, in Camden and also Spitalfields: both on corners, both a real treasure trove of fashion. Before I ever went in, I had assumed it was too punk for me, too scruffy, but it's amazing: have you ever gone? Brilliantly constructed stuff, very well made, original, and something for every style type. I fell in love with some wonderful fitted Alaia-type cocktail dresses, for example. In Knightsbridge black, I might add!

Thank you all for your great comments recently. The new people who have sent links to their blogs, I'm trying to look thru them all & get back to you: wonderful stuff out there! And please do keep giving me feedback on trends... more about that shortly.

Okay, enough chit chat. The sun is out and soon as I post this, so am I. Have a lovely day, all you beautiful people!