red lilps: juxtaposition

Shot within minutes of one another. Backstage, at fashion week.

I had named the top shot 'red lilps' and, what can I say. It made me smile.

Tomorrow's the sneak preview press day, Bowie show @ the V&a. SO psyched! Going with Pips Taylor and the pinch.tv crew. Charging my little vintage Canon, hope the sweet little thing can hold up for a few hours. Is it just me, or is life getting interesting?

on beauty (for lily)

On my previous post ('backstage: the pretty girl'), I mentioned 'the models and the non-models', and said I'd be doing posts on them, too, as they have a beauty all their own. And then I got this comment from Lily, which I'm quoting in its entirety:

"To be honest, I'm rather disappointed that your 'Pretty Girl' looks so typical. Yes, she's very pretty, but she's also white, blonde, and blue-eyed. 

 Where's the dark-skinned girl with stunning almond-shaped eyes, who grew up being told that she wasn't pretty because she *wasn't* white, blonde, or blue-eyed? And who realized that she was stunningly beautiful anyway, on her own terms? I'd rather see her."

So, Lily, this post - which, uncannily, was part of the series that I'd alluded to - is for you.

I'm so interested in this concept of perfection in beauty (that 'blonde, blue eyed, white' stereotype) that I wrote a novel based in part around that theme, which I'm adapting - as we speak - into a screenplay. There are so many beauties - in terms of that colouring, those 'perfect' features - born every day in Scandinavia, Holland, Estonia, Eastern Europe, Russia.. it's no big deal there. And each culture's concept of beauty is so vastly different, anyway.. the idea that in places like Japan, the beautiful Japanese woman often wants to be more Western.. I agree, Lily. The most beautiful women - and men - in my eyes, have as often been Asian, or Black, or any blend, long as - I'm cringing as I"m typing this, but I'm going to have to say it anyway - their beauty radiates from within.

Even thinking of any 'beauties' in recent years, the past half century.. Jackie Kennedy, while she was just a girl, graduated from Vassar, applying for an internship at Vogue (which she won - and turned down to be a 'girl about town' in DC with a camera, meeting the young Senator Kennedy) described her face as so imperfect - her eyes so wide she had to be fitted with special sunglasses .. or Twiggy. I mean, bless her cotton socks, she was no one's idea of pretty, at the time. Even Kate Moss, who I read recently that someone described her face as being the 'perfect proportions', beauty wise, has her uneven smile, her wonky teeth.. I think of models like Alek Wek, Fei Fei Sun, my god is she gorgeous, the first Chinese model on the cover of Vogue Italia..

The most beautiful women I've met and shot - models or otherwise - have not fit that stereotype. Leomie is one that comes to mind.


I could go on and on - and I hope to - but I'll stop, for now. Of the backstage shots I'm showing here, only one was a model in the show, and I'll show you tomorrow who that was. The other were simply beautiful women involved with fashion, just not on the catwalk.

Can you guess which one of these women is the model? Answers revealed in my next post.

Okay, one last thing - I guess I'm on a roll now. I think of Charlize Theron, a great big amazonian blonde beauty, classic Dutch/French Huguenot descent, white South African, who has tossed away her beauty (albeit temporarily) for roles like Monster.

She did an excellent film called Young Adult.  I feel it was the most courageous film a beauty like her could ever make. Not because of any violence, or car chases (altho, come to think of it, there was a car crash), but because she had the courage to play a flawed human being: a girl so used to trading on her beauty that she could afford to be cruel. And then, she wasn't the prom queen anymore, and her looks started to fade. And what do you do then, when you're not beautiful inside? 

backstage: the pretty girl

It's probably stating the obvious: models are meant to be pretty.

But when I was backstage after a show at fashion week, shooting more from an anthropological standpoint: watching the humans interact, the models and the non-models (and I'll be doing posts on them, too: they often have a beauty all their own) - and you see that they're just girls, being all warm and happy and, well, girly together.

And then there's, invariably, the Pretty Girl.

We all know who she is: she was born different. She was always a bit separate from the group. Nice - very nice - but somehow more grown up. Emotionally self reliant. Not quite a girl's girl: not a bitch, just not seeming to need the sisterhood as much.

Maybe I was reading too much into this story - it was just a frenzy of shooting, and maybe her BFFs forever were already changed and waiting for her outside. But when I caught this girl on camera, she was alone. I asked her permission, of course, and she tried to explain to me why she was still there - something to do with trying to untangle her hair (where are the hairdressers AFTER, I ask you? When you really need them?) but I got this feeling that it must be a bit lonely, being the prettiest girl in a room of the pretty girls.

We all have our crosses to bear in life, and granted, there are worse hardships to overcome, but I feel for her. She's going to have already experienced envy from other girls, and men being nice to her for the 'wrong' reasons.. I wish her well, this anonymous, nice, Pretty Girl.

maria

Backstage, and on the catwalk, at Maria Grachvogel's show. As before.

There's something almost autobiographical about her work. It's beautiful and mysterious, and the girls are so young. Well, she's so young.

There is also something so spiritual in a beautiful show. But what goes on behind the scenes: that chaos, but also that quiet: it's hard to describe. It's a privilege to bear witness to it. I realise it's only fashion, but when it's a happy environment, as her show clearly was, it transcends fashion. It's just a celebration of life, and the creative spirit.

thirst

Okay, I admit it: I drink a lot of water.

Back when I was about 18, I guess, my boyfriend got me hooked on the stuff. I remember standing by the sink at night, and we'd drink THREE WHOLE GLASSES before going to sleep. And ever since, I carry a bottle of tap water wherever I go.

I've noticed that whenever models, actresses, etc, are asked their beauty secrets, they invariably say 'lots of sleep, lots of water'.

But I can be a bit evangelical about it. And since both my mother and husband don't drink nearly enough water, he's coined a new phrase: 'hydro nagging.' Yes, yes, I do understand that the more you drink, the more you're gonna have to pee - but really, you're not fooling Mother Nature if you don't drink water in the hopes that you're not going to pee. That's - in my humble opinion - simply ridiculous.

I did, however, get caught up on the flight out of Miami last week. Soon as they switched off the fasten seat belt sign, I was the first in the loo. (see above). And then, bam, the plane dropped. We hit turbulence. And there I was, butt naked - landed somehow on the closed toilet, thank God - and started getting whipped around the loo, struggling to pull my tights up, open the door, and crawl back to my seat. We then had approximately 4.5 HOURS OF TURBULENCE. The mostly English plane were behaving pretty well, as I was clutching my husband's arm and moaning and being very, let's just say, un-English. He and the guy next to him kept saying things like 'what are the odds of the plane going down' and I was just doing my best not to pee in my pants.

Shot this backstage after the wonderful Maria Grachvogel show on the last day of LFW. More to come. Off to see Lincoln soon. We can't get Sky (long story) so I can't see the Oscars tonight, something I took for granted as a NYer. I was too cool to stay in and watch the Oscars. Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

backstage after bora

This brevity series is really fun. I'm going to take it to the next level and start being mute at social gatherings. Let's see how long THAT one lasts!

Shot at Somerset House after the Bora Aksu show, Day One, 16.09.11. But this is nothing: wait til you see the show!

surprise

Today's the last day of London Fashion Week September 2011 - it's rainy and it's Men's Day and there will be a very end of school term feel in the air, a sweet kind of melancholy, and for most industry insiders, it's off to Milan and Paris, and for me, one last trip to clean out my locker in the photographers' room, then time to sift through my photographs. Like beautiful memories.

As my good friend Jennifer of Style East described it, one's first time at fashion week - for a streetstyle photographer especially - is like being a kid in a sweet shop. And right now, I feel like I've had so much candy I've got a sugar headache. Literally. And while I didn't expect to ever get that heady, I can't believe I'm here feeling that I did at my first time, September 2009, I'm surprised at how much I've really enjoyed this season. My experience is richer now, because I've made so many wonderful friends - bloggers, journalists, young talent starting out, as well as the truly professional, hard working 'industry insiders.' I don't know why I waited this long to be in the fashion world - the REAL fashion people aren't bitchy at all, they're absolutely lovely. And this time, I've finally met some of my virtual friends, like Pearl of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom, and my God, they are all even more lovely than I expected. And I expected a lot.



It's occurred to me that happiness, in any situation, has a direct proportion to expectation. The less I expect from an experience, the more I am pleasantly surprised.

Now I don't know where to begin, what to post on first. Runway shots, but in my style, from the front row? Backstage? Or streetstyle, at and around Somerset House? You tell me.



Shot backstage before Holly Fulton, what they call 'first look.' This was a bit posey, and I used flash - not my usual style, but it's good to mix things up. Maybe for my next post, I"ll show you other shots during this 'first look' process - it's really surreal, all these professional photographers crammed into a hallway, it's hard to get out, and everyone's saying 'look at me' - but it's a wonderful, heady experience. Just before the show begins. And it was such a great show: Holly has such a delightful, unique voice.

i know just how she feels

Backstage at Kinder Aggugini's AMAZING show.. was that only last night? Feels like years ago. I can't wait to show you the photos, from where I sat it's quite different than the end of the catwalk shots. I am seeing such incredible shows.

I'm so excited to show you all these images I've been gathering - like beautiful memories. It's like this gift I know I have for you but I can't give it to you yet because I'm SO FREAKING TIRED. We all are. I mean, there are some people who are just hanging out, watching, enjoying this amazing week in the miraculous warm sunshine, but among my blog-friends.. we were in the press room today @ tea time and they brought out free scones, gorgeous cheese, fruit, quince jelly, and Jennifer East and I were scoffing it down and Shini and Kit were just so tired they weren't hungry. It's like jet lag: things like hunger hit at the strangest hour. I had 'dinner at midnight: cookies and corn chips and apples and cheese and chocolate. While uploading photos.

But all that's NOTHING compared to how these girls must feel.