It's funny to think, at the time I took these shots - September 2010 I think - I had named the shots 'Poppy's friend' because she was clowning around with what turned out to be her sister, Poppy Delevingne. The third blonde with them - who I assumed was another friend, then later, possibly sister - was probably her mum.
Cara - as everyone is now calling her - liked my shots so much she used them on her private facebook page. And we're still friends. Even though she goes by another name there. Which I can't tell you, being, of course, private.
She's a delightful girl, with that innate effortless style that Kate Moss had at her age, and it's been fun to watch her grow in such a short amount of time. Although two years, in model years, is probably longer than dog years. She's still really goofy and girlish in real life, but she can do grown up - as shown here in a Burberry campaign shot from 2011 - really well.
Is she this big outside London? It seems we're seeing her a lot here in England, where she's from. Thanks to Jennifer B. for posting this shot on LookBible. You've got a great eye: I want to re-post everything you've put up.
Suggested post viewing: click above. All set? Good.
So the other night while my husband was sleeping, I watched the excellent Up in the Air, with George Clooney. At the end credits, this song burst on - so raw, so recent, so inspiring and it brought me back to my formative years, as they say. (I saw once, while watching a brilliant documentary with my dad, on the development of jazz, that our musical tastes are formed in our teens. We looked at each other and realised, it's true. And then he started talking to me about Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw, and the era of the Big Bands, and Swing.)
I wonder if I only feel this way because of my age, and the age I was when I first heard it? I mean, if anyone out there is young - do you feel the same way? Is it me, or are these just the best friggin' lyrics? It's such a simple message, but it hit me:
We have never been in an age in history with more choice. And yet: I am so sick of, so bored to tears, with the endless PR flood of junk I get each day in my inbox. Follow the trend. Follow the celebrity. Follow the celebrity following the trend. Buy this dress because Kate Middleton wore it, and then.. what? You'll wake up and be a princess? Follow me on facebook, follow me on twitter. Do not lead: follow. And then in a few weeks the trend will change, so throw it all out and buy into to the next new trend. Tell your followers to follow us, and buy our stuff.
Change your body. Change your home. At whatever cost, alter your appearance, surgically, chemically, so you will look like someone else. So you'll no longer be you.
When I think that this song was written in the SEVENTIES, when not one person, not even celebrities, owned a laptop, and tweeting was something that only birds did (and there WERE birds back then - I swear, it's true!).. I mean, look at these lyrics:
We needed a tutor so built a computer, and we programmed ourselves not to see. The truth and the lying the dead and the dying, a silent majority. Don't theorize look in their eyes. Are they telling lies? The ones that they learn on T.V What a way to be free.
And then I think of Cara Delevingne. She was only Poppy's kid sister when I met her a season or so back, at fashion week. Posing like a clown for what I assumed were her friends or sisters, but one was her very cool mom, Pandora. I guess I later gave her the shots, or something, because we're now facebook friends. Not REAL friends - we don't hang out. And it's not the official Cara Delevingne celebrity facebook page, it's under a pseudonym. And no, I'm not going to plaster it on my post!
The thing is, Cara is herself. Purely herself. As wiki says Sarah Doukas of Storm said, "The most beautiful face in the most engaging personality, like her older sister Poppy. She is adorable and very talented. She also has the ability to shake up the energy in a room full of stuffy people and make people ask "who is that girl".
But most of all, she's simply being herself. She's not even terribly TALL, for goodness sake, and yet she's the new face of Burberry. (They say she's 5'9": maybe she's shot up in the last year, because she seemed pretty darn petite to me.) Because height is the one thing we can't change about our appearance. Yet.
I might sound cynical, or bitter, but I'm actually in a pretty good mood, making the best of this weather (it's the PITTS, says my sweet Southern friend Margaret) - having a grand old time, pickling my living room floor. Oh, gosh oh darn, if the sun didn't actually come out there, for a minute! Gotta go.
Like my mom, I've been fascinated with the family history of Kate - sorry, CATHERINE's - family. But not just that: her dad, mum, sister Pippa, her brother - his composure in speaking at the wedding - there is just something so delightful, to me, about seeing siblings such genuinely good friends. A lot has been made about what an asset, and a star in her own right, Pippa is. Not remotely trying to upstage her sister: there just doesn't seem to be a whiff of rivalry between those two (and wouldn't you just love to see her marry Harry!?)
Another delightful family, who I stumbled upon by accident while going thru my Sept 2010 fashion week folders for a post that I'm now postponing, is a chance shoot - an accidental shoot - that happened while I was shooting MY friend right next to those delicious, delightful Delevigne sisters, Cara, in black, and Poppy, in peach. I assumed the third blonde was a friend until I realised that's their MUM: Pandora! Who is the head personal shopper for Selfridges. And her dad is Sir Jocelyn Stevens, who among other illustrious things was the financier for the first 'pirate radio' (am I the only one who LOVED that film?), and former publisher of Queen Magazine, which brings us full circle. And it's a lovely day and we're about to venture forth into the sunshine, so I shall bid you all a good day!
During one of the days of London Fashion Week, while I was taking photos of my friends, I realised I was in the middle of a fun little shoot so started snapping them, too. I know that the taller girl in the gorgeous grey and nude leather dress is Poppy Delevingne, but I was busy shooting my friends and didn't ask who the other girl was. And now I can't get that Cyndi Lauper song out of my head. The Killers did a cover of it, but call me old fashioned: I feel the original is the best.
p.s. Well what do you know! My 'anonymous' source came thru in a matter of hours. First Almina tipped me off that she's done some modelling for ASOS. Then Anonymous filled in the missing puzzle piece: they are, indeed, sisters! I just think it's so cute to see a sister, who model, shooting her younger sister, who also models (both for Storm btw) at fashion week. Just being normal girls. Read all about it here on Vogue.com: Sister Act. Which is what, had I known, I've have called this post..
RoadTrip23 is the natural evolution from StreetStyle London, which is still here, and has been since 2009. Because there's more to the world than fashion, and there's more to the world than London. Lovely as London is.
I'll still be posting street style, if something really grabs me, but have expanded into other areas of interest, primarily travel, the arts, culture. Whatever I feel is beautiful or interesting: either man made, or a natural wonder.
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