denim blues

 




Funny old thing, denim is: I go thru stages - in the winter, for some reason - where I don't feel like wearing denim. It makes me feel sad, long for warmth and sun. But then, when I'm tan.. I love worn, soft, faded denim, with tan skin.

The darker the skin, the better faded denim looks.  Which is why, I'm sure, Ashish chose Leomie Anderson (as before, 'little leomie, all grown up'), for this look. Which isn't an easy look to pull off, but it's just gorgeous against her mahogany skin, don't you think?





And while they're saying that it's all about flats this season (I've always been all about flats), let's face it: when you're wearing denim overalls, nothing else, no jewelry, nothing, pretty white kitten pumps, not too high a heel, are just the ticket.




Grey's the same, for me. I don't like grey when it's grey outside, but in sun, with a tan.. and flashes of white, and fun thick gold jewelry, like a gold choker chain I'm on a roll with.. anyway, I was putting together this post, playing around with music - wanted to find some kind of blues song to go with it, and found a nice one, Eric Clapton live playing Rob Johnson's Kind Hearted Woman Blues, which led me to thinking about Cat Stevens for some reason, Hard Headed Woman. That's a nice combination to strive for: Kind Hearted, Hard Headed.

But God knows why this showed up on youtube, on the right hand column, along with suggestions for other Blues songs: a video for making and cutting black raspberry Alaska Soap Cake. It's twelve minutes long, and the colours are the opposite of denim, or grey, nothing to do with the Blues, but so inspiring for spring. I could eat this soap cake, it's so yummy looking.

Rainy snowy spring morning, husband's back from an indoor swim - I just couldn't do it, couldn't get up and out by 8:00 a.m., go out in the cold, the thought of going into cold water, no matter how much it's heated.. just felt like hanging at home, being lazy. Wishing you all a lovely lazy day, wherever you are, and if you're singing the blues, hope it's something good.

have a nice day

How's your day going?

ashish: tongue in check

Gotta love Ashish.. not a whisper of the iconic Burberry check on their runway, but Ashish has adapted it so beautifully, blingingly. With sequins.

Love also how he's done her hair, like she's been in a little roadster with the top down. And those kitten heels.

So much I want to show you from this show. At first I was underwhelmed.. it wasn't like his flowery collection a while back, but the more I look at my shots, the more I see. I thought this was a gloomy show at first, but his wit and sparkle is as effervescent as ever. He's just keeping his tongue firmly in cheek.

the spirit of things: matthew williamson

God bless my little camera.

Sometime last year, my husband decided that he, too, wanted to start a blog - on fly fishing - and we went on eBay and got him what we thought was my camera, my Canon EOS 50D, for something like £35. We couldn't understand why no one bid against it.

Then it arrived - without a card, of course, or a lens - but after buying four different cards, we realised why no one wanted it. It was TWELVE YEARS OLD - the first Canon of its kind, to bridge the semi-professional market - and the cards were obsolete. And since my wonderful EOS had died literally of exhausting, from slamming the shutter into oblivion shooting the fast speed at fashion weeks, I didn't have much in the way of expectation from this old boy.

So I didn't take nearly as many shots. I could feel it huffing and puffing at the Matthew Williamson show, so I turned it off and simply enjoyed the show, like a normal person. But to my surprise: it really did come through!

The press release at the show talks about 'opulent colour and print informed by the Northern Lights'... digitally printed snow-scapes with acid green-lit skies.. degrade pewter, gunmetal and sulphur yellow.

In this post I'm just focusing on one sulphur yellow look: a pants suit that reminds me of when the Beatles first played on the Ed Sullivan show.

When we arrived, before the show, I noticed this girl in a great dress - the collar seemed like a statement necklace - that's probably Matthew Williamson. I loved her bob - I might cut my hair like that again - and assumed she was Natalia Vodianova. I was telling Jessi why I think she's so great. But I was, once again, totally wrong. Apparently it's Arizona Muze. Although I still think this girl looks more like Natalia Vodianova, don't you? Whoever she is, I noticed how warm and generous she was, to friends greeting her before and after, and - during the show - catching the eye and sending support to her friends on the catwalk.

@burberry: what's your name

We were driving up, in Jessi's car, parking near the Albert Memorial - knowing we were running late for the Burberry show. It was cold, the light getting low in the sky after a beautiful sunny day, and suddenly we see this huge glass pavilion, as we're walking - Jessi, who used to model before she moved to Paris and got married and had her darling son, Jasper. Jessi, tall and California blonde, statuesque in killer heels.

This unbelievably gorgeous, spiritual music, was pouring out, as if from the heavens. WOW. We could see the show going on, through the glass. The guards directed us where to get in to the show, but you know what? It was nearly over, and it felt right to be outside. With the crowd. Watching Jessi get papp'd, watching the blogger/celebs who didn't get Burberry invites get papp'd.. and then, as the guests poured out, watching the circus go by. Fame. What's your name.

I am a firm believer that where we are is where we're meant to be. I don't mind not being inside the show, because the people I met and the photos I took.. I'd not have had any of that experience otherwise. This is now my philosophy of life: wherever I am, I try to be present.

I'll be posting more, but I need to get over to Somerset House now. If you want to see what we didn't, here's the show in its entirety. It's really worth playing all the way thru - I've got Happy Together running through my head (& p.s.: LeahB, I found the version! It's Misty Miller singing it, thank you Eleanor Frost) - but the end.. man, oh man, is Christopher Bailey an artist, or what.

unique: topshop @ the tate modern

We were so excited, Jessi and I, to be seeing the Topshop Unique show yesterday at the Tate, that I made a decision not to even try to shoot the show. I wanted to be present, to watch it like a regular person, and I'm glad I did. It was gorgeous: perhaps the best of all the Unique shows yet.

Watch it here.

Got it? Good. Don't you love that pale blue cropped chunky jumper 3:42 in? (this is much better: I can type and see it again, in real time). Some amazing wide legged trousers that you had to see from where we sat - a kind of shaggy cashmere, at 4:29. Amazing.

LOVED the patent poodle skirt in a kind of mustard, at 4:55, paired with a cropped chunky jumper - this one a kind of variation of giant leopard. The pale dusty pinks - for fall!! - at around 5:56, especially another fifties poodle skirt in pink, with a white bomber jacket - very Sarah Jessica Parka, S&tC season 2.. the show felt like the love child of the fifties and the eighties. A hybrid I'd never considered possible, and yet I can't stop thinking about it.

And Jourdan Dunn in that gravity-defying Merlot coloured sparkling gown, at 7:55.. I can't see, frankly, anyone else wearing it that well.

So we loved the before party, and when I saw Olivia we greeted like old friends, and I didn't even feel like doing the obligatory smile shoot (that's her, walking to her seat in the pink pants). I did, later, at the Matthew Williams show - when she'd changed outfits.

Trends I'm noting so far on the crowd: black and white bold prints, (as on Victoria Pendleton, second down), and putting the colour and pattern on the trousers rather than the tops. Fun shoes: the crazy bovine platforms that caught my attention at my first fashion week - 2009 - are gone. Instead, what's cool is flats - like what Pixie wore with that big purple pattern dress - or ladylike  kitten heels, like what Kate Bosworth was wearing across from us on the front row, with clear stockings, a pretty skirt, and fluffy jumper. Another plus to not shooting during the show, but rather letting the big boys do the work: you get to see the dynamic of the girlfriends, clutching their men's arms while watching them watch the girls on the catwalk.

And of course, it gave me a little frisson of pride, to see my little friend Cara, all grown up and leading the show. BOTH shows. Click here to see her do the Harlem Shake backstage with her friend Jourdan Dunn.

Off to Burberry soon, sun's out, life is good.

catwalk magic: matthew williamson, with snow

From 80 degrees and sunny in Miami to snow at the Royal Opera House for the Matthew Williamson Show.. wrenching to leave my mom in Florida, and swimming, but there are worse things to come home to.

Esp. drawn to hot colours for fall: oranges and pinks and purples and greens.

More fashion week stuff to come, flying out the door now. Also posting to LookBible, btw, so check it out there. Gotta run. xoxo

two hands clapping

As before: two shots, taken moments apart: someone's shoes in the front row of the Topshop Unique show at Waterloo Station, then Olivia Palermo's hands, clapping. Note the slight cut on her pinkie: proof that she is, after all, Human.

Once we get into the winter season, I always wish I could do red. I see girls with pale skin and perfect red lips, or even nails, and wish I could do it. But red is not for me. So I settle for cool fuschias and pink. But it's not the same thing. I can't even do orange. But that doesn't stop me from trying!

Oh, new addiction: LookBible. Like Pinterest, for fashion. It's great for people like me: lazy people. Once I've posted this, I can just click on the button on my bookmark strip, click on anything I want, and it posts to my wall - and even if people re-post, the original source link comes with it. Great for budding bloggers who want to raise their profile. It's just launched, spreading through word of mouth, invite only, but really easy to set up. Simply click here - or on the button on my sidebar. Tell them Jill sent you.

juxtaposition: waterloo station

Just because my camera died - of exhaustion, according to the lovely Greek camera guy who assured me that it had had a good innings - I don't want it to have died in vain. And I'm discovering so many, many photos that I've never shown you. So while I rest up at home, fighting off a silly winter bug, I'm going back through my images, like memories. I'm more interested in the relationship between two still images - movements in time.

These are from one of the Topshop Unique catwalk shows. Waterloo Station, London. More to come. With thanks to my lovely Canon E0S: you live on, through the images you've provided me with. Like a trusty stead of days of yore, we worked as a team, you and I, and we lived each day to the fullest.

luminosity

lu·mi·nos·i·ty (l m -n s -t ). n. pl. lu·mi·nos·i·ties. a : the quality or state of being luminous b : something luminous 2 a : the relative quantity of light b : relative brightness of something 3 : the relative quantity of radiation emitted by a celestial source (as a star)

We have a screening tonight in Leicester Square - Roman Coppola's short films, and I know nothing more than that (I like to go into things - films, especially - with no preconceived expectations) - and a little cocktail party first. And I was thinking (not too hard, mind you) about what I'd be wearing. And today - perhaps because it's been so grey, cold, wet lately - I"m in the mood for something luminous.

Yesterday, for example, I wore a three seasons old Topshop sequin motorcycle jacket over layers of fine grey tees, white jeans, lots of chains and things, and dressed it down with brown Chelsea boots. Tonight will probably be variations of the same.

Speaking of stars, this is Julia Restoin Roitfeld - Carinne's daughter - and I was seeing her a lot at fashion weeks, back when I was going (I'm on a break, you might have noticed). She's lovely, a nice girl with a lot of class and not a competitive bone in her body - why should she compete? - and we became quite friendly. If that's possible, during that circus. I think she sensed that we both feel the same about it all. Like we'd rather be home, alone or with our men, with a cup of tea and a nice book.



Took these shots within minutes of each other, at Waterloo Station for the Topshop Uniqlo show.. wow, must have been a year and a half ago now. But these kind of subtle colours, and metallics and, well, haha, LUMINOSITY, are the other look I'm craving at the moment. Like when there was all that 'nude is the new black' hysteria a few seasons back, I still love the subtleness of greys and beiges together - I can't bear grey with black, but pair it with neutral tones, and the greys start to feel blue and the beiges start going all peachy..

Those definitions of luminosity are fine - and Julia's, I suppose, a star, although probably in the scheme of things, a minor one - but I kind of like this definition best:

Luminous quality. The intrinsic brightness of a celestial object (as distinct from its apparent brightness diminished by distance).

It's about, I feel, that trick of the light: the appearance of something that is reflecting back light, but appears to be glowing from within.

I don't have a wish list. I'm not a wish list kind of woman: my cup is more than half full. My cup runneth over. But if my Fairy Godmother put a gun to my head and said 'you've got to wish for something, Punkin', I'd probably wish for luminescent grey green or violet blue eyes. Something I know I'm not gonna be getting. Not in this life.

brevity: the stripes of wit

Trying to take a leaf from Kate Lanphear's book - and The Foolish Aesthete's husband ('just because') and trying a bit of brevity, the soul of wit.

How am I doing so far?

Shot a the Topshop Unique show, as before. 18 September, 2011, Waterloo Station, Old Eurostar whatever it's called. That's it, I'm done.

Except just one thing: Is that just me, or are those shoes one size too small for that model's feet?

pool math

This..



..plus this..



..equals this. Catwalk shot (& photoshop) by me, at Somerset House, September 2010 (David Koma show, s/s 2011). Pool shot of me, by Maryann, last summer, as before.

Rain, rain, go away. Little Jilly wants to play. What a wacky summer! Global warming, my foot.